Wednesday, March 20, 2013

A Few More Improvements at the Project House

We had a tough weekend working at the project house.  Everyone is exhausted with working on the house and keeping up with our normal activities.Saturday, some of the the kids revolted and flatly refused to help at the project house.  Some of the kids who haven't done much/any at the other house keep asking when we will be moving.  I'm feeling overwhelmed and under a lot of pressure to get it finished so we can sell our current home.  I ended up crying for much of Saturday morning and was ready to put the project house on the market and walk away.  There is still a lot to be done and it's too big a project for me and Mike to handle alone in a timely manner.  Eventually, the two of us could complete it, but NOT before late summer.

We did get some other things completed at the house this week.  Joe and Amy got the staples removed from 1/2 the floor in the family room in preparation of sanding and finishing it.  We finished the touch-up work in the kitchen and got the paint and yuck off of the counters.  Mike completed the flooring in the kitchen and laundry room.  I began painting the entry and front hall.  The entry contains one of the staircases.  It's being painted a medium warm brown.  I've gotten the first coat done on all of it.  Most areas also got a second coat of paint.  The upper part of the staircase is untouched.  Mike or Madelyn (our family member who aren't bothered by heights) will be painting that area.


After we purchased the house, someone told Joe that the house had been a used as a church at one time.  Today, Mike went to the house to complete the dry wall work in the family room.  While working, he stuck his head up in the attic and received positive proof that the rumor was true.  There are approximately 20 dismantled church pews up above our family room.   Why would someone put that many pews in the attic?  Did they think someone might want to use the room as a church again in the future?  Did they have some plans to reuse the pews in some way?  The big question facing us now is what will WE do with all of them. 


I'm taking several days off from the project this week because of transportation needs for several extra activities the kids have this week.  Joe has offered to work at the house everyday of his spring break.  Amy has offered to carpool with Mike, so that I can have a vehicle to haul our supplies to and from the house during Joe's break.  Mike will be taking an extra day off of work that week.  Hopefully, we will be able to get most of the work done in the main floor bathroom.

I'm planning to go to the project house tomorrow to get pictures and will post them soon.

3 comments:

Barb the Evil Genius said...

I bet you could sell the church pews, and not just to a church, either. Figure out the dimensions and maybe what kind of wood they are and get them onto Craigslist. Being dismantled might be a selling point as they will be easier to transport.

I really hope things improve for you soon in regards to the project house. I also just had the idea that maybe you could barter the pews to someone experienced in work that you need done, in exchange for his help.

Karen said...

Thanks for the ideas Barb! It still seems unreal to me that someone would save them. I'll have Mike look into the Craigslist thing. He handles most of that type of thing.

Barb the Evil Genius said...

I just did a quick look around etsy and Craiglist. Considering that you might be able to get at least $100 a piece for them, depending on how ornate they are, would be a good reason to keep them. Also a shame to throw away good wood.

Maybe the church was hoping to someday move them to a new location? We had to sell our church building a couple of years ago, but took everything we could that was of sentimental value, and/or things that would be expensive to replace, including the candelabras and baptismal font.