and then there was some wind

We're just fine. The little house by the marsh made it through the big, bad hurricane fairly unscathed.
The roof leaked a bit, the basement dribbled a little.
But we never lost power.

We walked down to the water several times that day. It was a shorter walk than usual.
Folks down there took a beating.
But hey - you have to expect that if you want to live on the fringe.

and then...

...there is Irene.

Here at the little house by the marsh we are busily preparing for the storm.

The latest models show a direct hit. The biggest issue for us will be flooding. Luckily our little house sits pretty high, but we are taking some precautions in the basement.

We chatted with a cop in the front yard yesterday morning who told us most likely they will post some police down here on our little peninsula, and then close off both access roads.
No in, no out.
We are also preparing to be without power for several days.
Meaning that we will fill our propane tanks and go to the liqour store.

Welcome to the neighborhood!

and then there was the bathroom

I don't have very good before pictures of the bathroom, but let me try to describe it.
The main bathroom is VERY small ... oddly we still bought the house. We were spoiled with our last house in that even tho we only had 1.5 baths, our main bath was rather roomy for an older house.

This bath is typical of the cape style houses found here at the beach. Almost every cape we went into had a similar layout. And actually one of the reasons we liked this little brick house by the marsh is that on either side of this bathroom were decent sized closets for each bedroom. The lack of closet space in houses by the water is astounding. Well...not the houses right on the water - I bet they have loads of closet space, or at least I would hope so. It would really piss me off to pay a million bucks for a house and have my clothes jammed into makeshift closets in the eves.

Anyway... back to the bathroom -

The previous owners had recently remodeled this tiny bathroom to include a really cheap plastic spa tub.
It may look ok in this picture - but the thing warped when you got in. And as we have already established, the previous owners idea of clean and my idea of clean could not be farther apart. I would NEVER be able to bathe in this tub. Just thinking of it now is making me shiver...

And ..yes... it is surrounded by black, fake-marbly tile. Even the ceiling was black tile. Really, what do people think about?

On the other side of the room they installed the largest vanity they could find - perfect for the tiny space.


Clearly ALL this had to go...



We had a new cast iron tub installed.

My artistic-wife picked out delicious tile for the floor - since it was such a small space we spoiled ourselves with marble. It feels amazing under bare feet.


She brightened up the shower area using white and some playful blues.



Then we went to Ikea - who shines at clever ideas for small spaces and got this small vanity and very cool sink/faucet.


Please note: that while currently functional, this room is still under construction. A leak (we now say "yet another leak") was discovered in the wall mounted bathroom fan... this leaking... is a whole 'nother story.

We started in the kitchen...

When we bought the little brick house by the marsh (we have marsh views...not beach views - hey we're not millionaires) we knew we would need to make some changes.

The previous owners had a decorating style that... we'll lets just call it early 80's gangster.

So we had already planned on doing extensive painting and to have the floors redone.
notice dark floors...and mustard? walls

..and what the hell is that thing over the sink.



But what we didn't expect to find was so much damage. These people were slobs. And apparently were clueless when it came to house breaking dogs.

yes.
ew.

We started to tear up the fake wood kitchen floor the day after we closed. What we found underneath was ...simply nasty.

My horrified-wife said,
I want it out.
All out.
Right now!

Bad timing for our friend Bill who was on his way over for the new house tour. But he handled it like a gentleman when I called him to say 'bring a drill'.


new hardwood in the kitchen,

and new cabinets.

Of course, as with every project here at the brick house on the marsh, there have been some glitches and delays.
But hey - plywood counters are way better than where we stared.

...and we're back

we've moved.
we put all of our crap in boxes.
25 years of crap.
in boxes.
and we used ALOT of tape.

5 guys came and put all of those boxes in two trucks.
we all drove down here to the beach (its a marsh actually).
the five guys then unloaded ALL those boxes into our new house.
our new house is smaller than our old house.
the movers lost nothing.
dammit.

we are nearly unpacked.
but thats only because I live with, and am in love, with an industrious woman.
a woman whose stamina and work ethic are terribly hard to keep up with.

we are still under renovation.
there has been MUCH renovation, and more to come.

in retrospect, I really wished I had been blogging this whole time.

its been hilarious, scary, daunting, wonderful and enlightening.
I don't recommend moving for the faint of heart.
my energizer-wife says the next move will be to the 'home' with just our toothbrushes and a picture of the kids.
I am down with that.