The end of a chapter.

On July 3, 2013 we bought our little white house in a sweet quiet neighborhood. We spent three great years putting holes in walls, changing colors, stripping wallpaper, ripping up floors, and wrestling with plaster. But at the end of it all, it was still never the house we saw ourselves in forever.

We listed our house just to see. One day later, we were under contract.

While there are many things about it I will not miss, there are things about it I will always treasure about this house.

This is the house where Noodle grew up.
Where our friends knew they always had a place to stay.
Where our toilet ghost lives and flushes whenever he wishes.
This is the neighborhood with the best Halloweens.
Where we were when we lost both of my grandparents.
Where I packed and unpacked so many suitcases.
This is the town that I have fallen so in love with.
In the state I never thought I'd stay in.
In a country that constantly breaks my heart.

A cold house full of warm memories, ready for the next chapter to begin.

Until next time.

2014 in Review

2014 has been an incredibly productive year, though unfortunately much of it was spent gallivanting around the world and not at our quaint little white house. In March, Jacob and I went to the UK to visit our friend in Liverpool, drink scotch in the Highlands, and drop in on our host family from 2010. It was an incredible two weeks filled with haggis and adventure. Only a few weeks after our return, we packed our bags for Halifax to see City and Colour perform his limited Canadian tour. Shortly thereafter, we spent a long weekend with a dear friend on Cape Cod where she was working on a whale watching boat.

(left to right: Jacob & Megan in Liverpool; Myself at The Famous Grouse distillery in Scotland; Our friend Kate holding a live horseshoe crab in Cape Cod)

We weren't home for very long before we were off again on a long weekend to Bar Harbor with my in-laws, and then to Penobscot with our friends the following weekend for Labor Day Weekend. This year was a record-high for us in terms of domestic trips, camping, and overall non-stop hijinx. Reserving our accommodations through Airbnb helped us save a fortune when we weren't staying with friends along the way.

(left to right: Halifax; Bar Harbor; Penobscot)

When I went back to school in the fall to finish up my final semester, productivity on household projects seemed impossible. It was challenging to take so many high level courses at once, and one night I just snapped. In the middle of translating, I walked into our kitchen and started to peel the wallpaper, planning a redesign of the whole room out loud. The kitchen is currently in shambles, closely resembling the "murder room" when we first moved in. However, it is the first project I plan to finish in 2015, and I cannot wait for the big reveal. As with our other projects, the kitchen project was put on hiatus while Jacob and I traveled to Baltimore to attend a conference, celebrate Thanksgiving with my family the following week, and pop up to Quebec City a few days later for our second City & Colour show of the year. This final show represented 2014 perfectly, and the long weekend we spent in QC was absolutely what I needed to make the final push through finals.  

(left to right: yoga in the mountains of New Hampshire; the botanical gardens in Washington, DC; snowy streets in Quebec City)

Now that 2014 is coming to a close, and we have no outrageous plans for 2015, I am finally feeling ready to cozy up for the winter in Bath. With all of this time on my hands, I presume we will be able to finish some of these projects! I hope you will join us for the journey. 

Happy New Year!

More Adventures in Insulation

In March, Efficiency Maine came by and gave our house "a hat & socks treatment," as they say. The process of insulating the house was seamless, the crew was wonderful, and we made some great connections out of it- even if by accident.

When the lead contractor of our project came by the house to go over the work plan and be sure that everything in the workplace was safe and up to code, it was discovered that 90% of the work that was supposed to be completed as a condition of our offer on the house was not actually completed. The asbestos around our chimney had not fully been sealed, and we had some serious wiring issues. Despite the agreement to remove all knob and tube wiring from the house, we still had live knob and tube exposed in the attic, and our exposed junction box had not been covered. Luckily, the electrician for our project was already intending to arrive on Monday to begin installing the bathroom fan and would be able to give us some answers on the severity of the problems.

As he began pulling down light fixtures and removing face plates it became quite clear that the electricity situation in our house was not only ancient, but not up to code. This is why rewiring the house became our new priority. We worked with Robert to come up with a plan that we could chip away at over time, with every project conveniently priced out.

Rather than being an inconvenience, every project thus far has resulted in great benefits. When we had the bathroom fan installed, it was discovered that the lighting in the room was unsafe. However, this meant that instead of having a barely functioning pull cord, we have a fancy double light switch! When we had Robert come to look at the hallway light, he fixed the broken overhead lamp in our dining room that hadn't been properly connected. We still have a few projects to get up to code, but there is no question we will be calling Robert to have them done!

Now that it is December, we have been feeling the benefits of our fancy new insulation. Our house stays warmer longer, we have been saving money on oil, and despite the fact that our ancient windows are still rather drafty, I can sit in my living room without a coat on!

One Year Later: Before & After

Exactly one year ago today, we moved into our little white house. Since that day, we have put a lot of work into making it our home. We are still a long way off and haven't even touched the kitchen or bathroom for renovations, but it was nice to see how far everything has come in just one year.

Living Room

Spare Bedroom

Master Bedroom

Dining Room

Backyard

DIY: Built-In Bookcase

Jacob and I have two things we habitually impulse buy: books & vinyl. The problem with a small house is that there is only so much room for bookcases and cupboards and other storage furniture. We had so many boxes and bags of records and books that we needed to come up with a sensible solution, which is why we took it upon ourselves to create additional storage without losing out on floor space! Our dining room has a closet that I have vowed to get rid of from day 1, and since the world kept telling me I could not transform it into a hallway, this seemed like a great way for it to be reborn. The plan is a two part project:

part 1: stairwell bookcase

part 2: built-in hutch

It made sense to create the bookcase first from the inside of the closet...which of course meant our first ever wall demolition! Jacob did an awesome job on this bookcase.

Materials:

5 - 2x4s
2 - 5' prefabricated shelves
1 - 6'x6' panel of bead board
1 - box of carpenter nails
1 - box of finishing nails
2 7' pieces of trim
1 gallon of white paint
Spackle

Tools:
Rubber mallet
Hammer
Drill
Circular saw
Electric sander
Hand saw

We started by putting a hole in the wall to get to the lathing. Let me just tell you...throwing a hammer through plaster is an incredible feeling. Using a hand saw,  Jacob then cut the lathing as close to the outside studs as possible. Once those were free he removed all of the plaster, stud and lathes so there was an opening 42 inches tall by 16 inches wide.

Once the hole was cleared out and ready he began working on the frame for the shelves. It was made with 5 2x4s. These fit well for the project since he had 2 inches on the inside of the closet for the frame to sit flush with the opening. Once the two halves of the frame were built he fitted them into the closet.

We had purchased one large piece of bead board, but Lowe's cut it to our dimensions for free! He nailed these to the frame and applied Spackle to any gaps. After the bead board was installed he marked out where he wanted the shelves to sit. After some trial and error he realized there was a half an inch difference from the width of the opening to the width at the back of the built in. Because of this he had to make sure that the rest of the shelves were each 1/2" wider at the back. After all the shelves were cut to size they were painted and installed. It still was not a pretty sight.

Once the shelves were installed using small L brackets, he painted the entire inside of the bookshelf. and applied a layer of Kilz to the wall. Now it was finally coming together!

The last big step was the trim. Jacob measured each side for the exact length, taking into account an extra 2.5 inches on each end so he could cut it at a 45 degree angle and make the trim fit together. The trim went on pretty easily and then it was a bit or patching up messy spots. After wrapping around the half-wall and repainting the molding, the project is complete. We now have four extra shelves of storage, plus a good test run before we work on part 2...the hutch!

DIY: Clothesline

Jacob and I returned from our vacation to discover that our dryer had died. After consulting with a repairman we were told that the cost of repair would be close to $300. We knew when we bought the house that it was only a matter of time before we would have to replace the washer and dryer, and it didn't seem reasonable to us to invest $300 in repairing our old gal when a little more could get us a brand new one. Of course we could have afforded to replace them if we hadn't just spent two weeks in Scotland & England.

With summer so close, we decided that it would be as good time as anyto build a clothesline. Not only would it be save us some money on our electric bill, but we could use the summer to put aside some money for a new washer and dryer set that is more efficient. Plus, there's nothing quite like fresh sheets fresh from the clothesline!

We took to Pinterest for some DIY clothesline tips and found this one from Big Red Couch most helpful. We got out of it spending around $50 and Jacob did a great job getting it done in about five hours.

I was tasked with digging holes for the posts. Unsure of whether or not we want this to be a permanent installation, we were not prepared to secure the posts with cement. We did, however, get a couple of heavy cement bricks to bury in front of the posts to keep the weight of the wet clothes from collapsing the structure inward. I dug two holes roughly 2 feet deep, large enough in diameter to fit the cement blocks as well as the posts.

 

Of course, Zoey and Noodle really did most of the heavy lifting while Jacob chiseled the knotches for the cross bar. Afterward I finished digging, I provided some much needed moral support to Noodle and Jacob who were working hard to cut and assemble the 2x4s and ties for the structure itself. Now all we need is some nice weather, and we will be golden!

Efficiency Upgrade: An Adventure in Insulation

This winter has been rough. We blew through a couple tanks of oil even despite keeping our home on a strict heating plan. We bulked up on blankets, invested in some curtains, layered up, but still couldn't keep the house above 60 degrees for longer than 15 minutes before our noses would start running. Even the dogs cuddled up close for warmth. We finally decided to reach out to Efficiency Maine and see what our options were for upgrading our home.

After looking through the list of local vendors in our area, Jacob called Evergreen Home Performance and set up our free consultation. Cree came to our house and showed us where we were losing heat: everywhere. None of the walls had insulation, the basement duct work was operating at a pretty low efficiency, and our attic was an embarrassment. After presenting us with our report, Cree proposed the "hat and socks" treatment: they would come in and use cellulose insulation in the attic and blow in insulation in the basement. As a bonus, he would throw in a fan in the bathroom for ventilation! It sounded great, but paying for it was a major concern.

Once we were given the scope of work, we were put back in touch with Efficiency Maine to discuss financing. Since we had only owned the house for eight months, we had very little equity. They could only give us a small loan with a median interest rate that equaled out to about $80/month payment over the next decade. The work proposed to reduce energy consumption by 25% and would be well worth the investment. It would be possible to apply for rebates on the work as well. We agreed to move forward and Cree put together a team on our behalf.

The work begins March 17.