Taking The First Step

"Faith is taking the first step, even when you don't see the whole staircase." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thank you for the inspiration MLK. I see the whole staircase now!

No more climbing of ladders for now. 

More of this week's progress coming soon(ish).

Take A Bite Out Of...

Exciting news! 

No, the house isn't finished. 

No, we didn't get a puppy.

No, we aren't expecting.

No, we didn't win the lottery. 

Sheesh, you aren't very good at this guessing game.

What's exciting is that I made the Annapolis crime map! 

My waSaabi was broken into last week. In case you missed it or need to jog your memory, you can jump back here.

Below, is a picture of the Annapolis Crime Map website. My crime is flagged by one of those little blue men doing the robot dance across the city. 

Annapolis Crime Map 

Until this week, I didn't even know that Annapolis had a crime map. Silly me thought crime maps were reserved for larger cities like, Baltimore and Washington DC. 


In comparison, the Baltimore Crime Map is shown below. This is a website that I typically check a few times a week. Mostly because I like to torture myself. 


As I mentioned here, Baltimore was rated the eight most dangerous city in the US last year by the FBI.


Super.


If you notice, there is a lot of pink in Baltimore, 100% more pink than in Annapolis, in fact. 
Pink ≠ Flowers, lemonade stands, or candy stores.
Pink = Bad. 
Pink = Shootings (or sometimes stabbings)

Baltimore Crime Map 

There wasn't much pink near the location of our new house until earlier this month. Boo. 
If you don't already know which block we will be moving to and you would like to, please email me. Happy to fill you in. Then you can type the address into the site using the link above and get excited to come visit. Don't forget to pack your Kevlar. 


Special note to our parents: you may want to pretend like you never saw this.

All Framed Out

Last week, when I stopped by the house the construction crew was working on framing the second floor. I showed you a few pictures of the newly framed first floor then.

This week, I swung on by the house to give Mr. C a check. A big check. No, not the kind they used to deliver to your house if you won the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes. (Does this still happen?)

(Anyone else going to miss Kristen Wiig on SNL?!)

When I say a big check I mean BIG as in the largest numerical check I've ever written. It certainly felt a little like playing with pretend money but, exciting all the same.

While, handing over said check I got a chance to see (and snap pics of) the house.

Here are a few more pictures of the first floor:

This is the dining area and door out to the rear "patio".

From the kitchen looking at the living room. Old sally port on left, window center, and front door on the right.

View of the garage from the mud room.

Looking up from the rear "patio" to the master bedroom.

Next, I climbed the ladder (no stairs yet) to the second floor. The old "shell" was too damaged to venture in. So, this was the first time I've been able to see the house and our views from these vantage points. Very exciting!


This is one of the bedrooms.

Here is the other.  The second floor has high sloped ceilings that are going to be amazing!

It may be difficult to tell because things were a bit cramped but, this is the second full bathroom.

Here is the master bathroom. The vanity and toilet latrine (lets class it up a little) will be to the right. The half wall in the center of the photo separates the big walk-in shower. On the far left side is the master bedroom.

Speaking of the master bedroom. 

Ta da!

It was hard to capture the entire room because it is so long (close to 24'). But, I did manage to squeeze in all three glorious windows!

I spy with my little eye something GREEN! 

It's not the tree that once stood in the rear of our house but, it still makes me happy.


Something else that makes me happy is walk-in closets!
View #1

View #2

Try not to be too distracted by the 'sexy and he knows it' construction dude.


Thinking that maybe this is where the old garage doors should go? We could convert them into sliding closet doors like I showed you here.


As we near the end of the all framed out house tour I decided to save the best picture for last. It's a picture of where the stairs will be. 


But first, a little info: The stairs will be centered in the heart of the house. You will come up from the first floor there and be able to head to the roof top deck (RTD) there. That means the RTD will be accessed internally. A little something special in the land of city living as most RTDs are accessed via a deck off of the rear of the house. In our case, that would mean if people wanted to head outside they would have to tromp through our bedroom. Most likely carrying food and drinks out and tracking dirt and water in. Sounds like a recipe for a messy disaster/lack of privacy. So, internal access is a huge bonus!


I'll let you in on a little secret; H and I weren't positive that we would be able to get the RTD ($$$). But, we are officially getting one. Alleluia! More outdoor space! More light brought into the house (because of the proposed glass door and window)! More places to enjoy a frosty beverage!  More views to take in (city-scape, water?, parks?, fireworks?)! More places to share laughs with friends and family! More places to tell the tales of a cowgirl living in the big city.


Oh, sorry, I think I got lost in my daydream there. At long last, please, feast your eyes on this.




Can't you just hear the angels singing down from above?!
"ahhhh"

Second Floor Plans

A few weeks ago I shared with you our First Floor Plans. At that time we had not yet finalized what the second floor would look like. Considering this week, the construction crew finished framing out the second floor you could say things are pretty finalized now. 

Before I update you on what happened this week (# eight if you're counting), I am going to show you the plans for the second floor. The scale is not exact but, I think its pretty close.

As you can see Maui was begging for a cameo. She decided to sun herself under the window.

If you recall from the Cold Hard Facts I gave you, there are three bedrooms and two full baths upstairs (& one half down), a stacked laundry room and a pretty wonderful walk-in closet. (Our master bedroom is going to be fabulous!)

Pictures of the second floor <all framed out> coming sooooon! 

Hot WaSaabi

Two things I am diligent about doing: hiding the goods I have in my car (if I even have any in there in the first place) and locking my car doors. Something I got into the habit of doing when I was 16 and started driving. Even when I was parked at home, wayyy off the beaten path (where being charged by a mama moose was much more likely than being robbed). One of my little OCD traits I suppose. 

So, yesterday morning, I was pretty surprised when I woke up to find my driver's door slightly ajar. At first I thought H had to grab the EZ Pass or something and forgot to shut it all the way.

Until I saw this.

 

OCD me would never leave my car in this state and my rather well trained H would certainly not purposefully rock the marital boat by rand-sacking my car so, I knew something was up.


Oddly, neither H, nor myself, nor any of our neighbors heard my car alarm going off last night and there were no signs of forced entry (thankfully). I do not believe this burglar was cleaver enough to break in without a little dumb luck. One of my rear door's locking mechanism works when it feels like it. I (again) am pretty diligent about making sure this locks but, I may have missed it just this once (dang!). The night before H and I returned from a long weekend visiting family. My exhaustion may have gotten the best of me.


So, why don't I think that this was the brightest robber on the burglary tree? Well, here is a list of my reasons why.


Things the robber took of mine:

• $60-$80 uncirculated dollar bills (Santa always brings a pad of $100 dollar bills when we are visiting H's hometown for Christmas, funny he never did this in Wyoming -silly Santa)

Things the robber left of mine:

• GPS
• Digital camera
• Patagonia jacket
• Maui Jim sunglasses (2) 
• EZ Pass
• Car

Things the robber left of his:

That my friends is a KA-BAR knife with a 7" blade. It looked like this (I peeked when the cop took it out of its sleeve). 

Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside now doesn't it?!

The police officers took a lot of photos, fingerprints, and of course the KA-BAR. The crime lab will process the knife, take more fingerprints and DNA (it was dirty, ew).

At least it was a beautiful morning for some fingerprint dusting. Which, is rather messy by the way, had to take my lil WaSaabi to the car wash so I didn't continue to get fingerprint powder all over myself.

I'll leave you with a little exchange I had with the nice police officer.


PO: Are you from around here?
SL: No Sir, I am from Wyoming. So, this is my first robbery.
PO: Well, hopefully it will be your last.
SL: I hope so too but, my husband and I are moving to Baltimore soon.
PO: In that case, this wont be your last.


Awesome. 

Framing

Last Thursday afternoon, H decided to take a quick drive by the house. Mr. Contractor happened to be there and invited him in to take a look-see.  

This is what was going on.

 The first floor framing had begun.

On Friday afternoon I had a scheduled meeting with Mr. C at the house. 

This is what I found, 24 hours after H was there.

The carpenters were framing out the second floor. 

While we were touring, Mr. C, his head foreman, and I played some tick-tack-toe. (Naturally, I won)

Not really. We were discussing the second floor layout. I will draw up the second floor for you, much like I did the first floor soon.

As of yesterday the framing was completed. Count it: one, two, three (and maybe a half) days! 

Things I love: framing (its fast, in an immediate gratification kind of way)

Things I don't love: burglars (I'm not talking about the hamburger kind) 

Check back tomorrow to see what I am referring to.

H

Allow me to wander off topic for just a moment. 

Today, I want to say CONGRATULATIONS to my handsome husband, Hadyn (AKA "H"). 

Because...

Yesterday, H passed the "Series 7" exam. He will now be able to work in financial securities if he opts to pursue that. This also opens the door to many more financial licensing and career opportunities for him. He studied long and hard and was extremely disciplined. I am proud of you H!

Cheers to you!

Everyone do the happy dance!

 All photo credits

"A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees."

Let's bring it back, old school style, to our Sesame Street days and play a game: 
"One of these things is not like the other"

Picture 1

Picture 2

If you guessed that H was missing from Picture 2. You're correct. Although, that wasn't actually the answer I was looking for. Please try again.

See what's different?

If you guessed that there is a giant tree missing from the back of the property you win a CHAINSAW! (No, not really)

Here is the story of the tree as I know it: as I say, begin at the beginning. 

Below, is a picture I took on the day we first looked at the "shells" from the roof-top deck (RTD) of a neighbor . The neighbor was allowing us get an idea of what our future view would be, (from the roof-top deck we are hoping for). This neighbor I speak of also sold us the property which, is why he led a couple of strangers through his house and onto his RTD. This situation, I imagine, doesn't happen too often in Big Bad Bawlmer, (Baltimore if you prefer. Just trying to fit in with the locals). 

You can barely see the tree (because it was winter) but, it's there. 

While on the RTD, our kind neighbor offered up the suggestion that we ask the owners of the house behind us to remove the tree so we could have a better view of the city. (Did he really just say that?) My response was something along the lines of, "Ahhh, hi, I know we just met and all but, are you freaking crazy?! Take down a beautiful green tree that may provide a small distraction that I am actually living in this oh, so 'charming' city?" I do, after all, prefer grass over concrete and trees over power lines.

"A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees." - William Blake

So, just thinking he was a (lunatic) city-boy with a heart of steel, not like mine that's all dewey and green; I buried the awful thought away in the back of my mind and tried to forget all about that unspeakable act. 

Until, on Sunday, when I saw this.

GASP! 

Dying to know what happened, I bugged Mr. Contractor. He said that he knew I would be sad but, the owner of the tree was adamant about its removal.  Mr. C (always with words of wisdom) said, he thought the roots of the tree were damaging the other home's foundation and in time, would most likely also disturb our fence, patio, foundation etc.

After boo hoo-ing for a bit I decided it was for the best and I would just have to green up my own outdoor space and move on.  

But, before I get ahead of myself and start blabbering about future outdoor space ideas; It's only right to first pay our respects to the beautiful tree that once was. 

Here is my tribute. (I adored it so, I even took pictures of the tree before I knew of its fate.)

RIP tree

(I did recently hear that Costco has a lot of beautiful options for young trees right now!)

Slab Happy!

Week six of this project just wrapped up and the weather decided to give us a break towards the end of last week. Even the weekend was beautiful. So, you know what that means... 
The slab got poured! Woot woot!

This bad boy is thick. At least 4 inches thick in the middle and 8"-12" at the perimeters, (says Mr. C). 

The garage slab and the rear patio slabs will be separate pours at a later date. I presume they will not need to be quite as thick as the house foundation. 


It is raining again but, only for a few more days, says the iphone. We are paying this no mind because the framing materials aren't going to be delivered until mid-week. So, for now we are just going to admire these pics and be slab happy!

(The spiral stairs are not being kept for our enjoyment, they will be sold or taken to the recycle yard. But, they sure are ruining these pretty slab photos.)

First Floor Plans

You've been given the facts. Now its time to see just what I'm talking about.  

Today I drew up a floor plan of our first level using a nifty (free) website (floor planner) that allows you to customize your own floor plans. It should be close to scale considering I used the dimensions from the official floor plans. Yes, I have copies of the actual floor plans from the architect but, I wasn't sure if it was kosher to scan those in for the blog. 

You know, copy right laws and all that jazz.  

Here's the first floor in all of her glory.  

This is the most basic plan. I didn't orient the kitchen yet because that is still a work in progress. The sink will sit below the window but, other than that we are still hammering out the details (island, peninsula, dimensions etc).

Useful information: Many city (especially Baltimore) row houses are traditionally very looong and skinny. Our house is unique because we are combining two houses to make a much wider home. This means we will have 24 feet to work with rather than a measly 14', 12', or even 10'. We are also looking at about 40+ feet in length.

If you look back up to the floor plan, most of the row homes that I know of only have the left side of the house. Living room, stairs, dining room, kitchen. Thats it. Thats all she wrote. However, our house has all of those features while adding a garage (RARE!), mud room (may have seen ONE other in my year long house search), a half bath (seldom seen or done right; meaning someone taller than I am doesn't knock their head while washing their hands), and a bonus space (BONUS SPACE?!) .  

Currently, the "bonus" is labeled "OFFICE" however it may end up being a den, a breakfast nook, or a disco room. Complete with a mirrored ball and DJ booth. Ya dig?

Twig Decor

The second floor layout will come when those plans are more firm. 

Patience young grasshopper.

P.S. It's still raining.

Rain Rain Go Away!

It's time for the week FIVE's house update.

Unfortunately, there's not much to report on. Do in large part to the weather the concrete slab did not get poured as originally proposed.

The rear wall separating our back "yard" from the neighbors was removed.  Don't worry, we will be putting something else up to replace the ugly concrete wall that once was. 

Here is this weeks not so different photo.

The weather forecast this week is looking like this.

Fingers crossed the concrete truck shows up soon so that we can get this show on the road!

In other news we had some visitors stop by the shell house wall this weekend. My aunt and uncle from Pittsburgh drove all the way to Baltimore just to check it out (well, sort of). We are just sad we couldn't take them out for crab cakes. Next time, promise! 

Even though the day they came to see our eclectic and colorful neighborhood was unimpressively dreary, my Aunt J and Uncle B had nothing but nice things to say (at least to us). H and I are so lucky to have such wonderful and supportive families.

Speaking of colorful doesn't Aunt J just look ravishing in yellow? 

Love you guys!

Paint Chips

Are you curious to find out what the garage will look like in the end? Knowing that you are on the edge of your seat and waiting for the big reveal here is a little preview. 


We are anticipating that the garage transformation will be something a little like this.

(Insert, "Ohhh, ahhh!")

The bottom photo is of a house that Mr. Contractor renovated a few years ago. My apologies for the poor quality photo.  You get the idea at least.

Recently, a good friend of ours, Chelsea asked what we were going to do with the old garage doors. (Side note: A Page In Our Book is Chelsea's blog. She helped inspire and encourage me to start Howdy Hon. All together now, "Thank you Chelsea!") She is creative, crafty, and a lover of all things rustic, a little like yours truly. So, I knew we were having the same train of thought. Because...

Just days before she asked me that question I had already checked with Mr. Contractor to see if I could keep the doors to "do something artsy". Pretty sure that he would call me crazy, I didn't have much hope. He surprised me by saying, 'it wasn't a bad idea' and that he would keep them for me. He even said he knew "a guy" who can safely strip the lead-based paint.  A good plan, considering H and I are hoping not to have two headed children in the (distant-ish) future. 

I've heard eating paint chips is bad for you?   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2bWfxS7W9s

Here are some ideas for repurposed wood doors that I have found (and love) on Pinterest.

Headboards

http://www.wanelo.com/home-and-office/sweeeet.-129509.html

http://reasonstobreathe.tumblr.com/tagged/Interiors

Sliding doors

http://remodelista.com/posts/architectural-elements-sliding-barn-doors

http://remodelista.com/posts/architectural-elements-sliding-barn-doors

Table

http://www.restoredstyle.com/barn-doors-fabulous-upcycled-tables/

Which is your favorite?