This is my second blog post documenting my move to Dutchess county, NY and my massive renovation
project. You can read the first post here: -
I’ve left New Jersey
We left the lawyers office and drove to our new house. It still felt surreal and I needed to do a full walk through with the new perspective of owner, not potential buyer. It was nearly two decades since I’d moved into a house I owned and nine years since I had sold up and returned to renting. As I moved from room to room, I kept think, you own this, and there was little to love. The house had been empty for three years, wallpaper was peeling and the purple floorboards were dusty. The survey said the bones were good and I liked the bones. I had big rooms, lots of them, space in the basement for a
workshop and masses of potential. I could add real value and turn the house into my home. It was early April and Spring had Sprung.
The plan . . . I have until the end of June to decorate five rooms. At the end of June my youngest son finishes middle school and our rental contract ends. I will spend two days and one night at the new place and almost every weekend. That’s fifteen trips and with a three day U-Haul rental for the big stuff, move all my worldly goods.
The first trip was a load of camping and cleaning gear. We spent a week on airbeds, scrubbing floors, washing walls and vacuuming the cat fur from the 12 steam powered radiators. I subconsciously worked my way through the Nest
PEA /
PEP badge, including the inside and outside of the washing machine, fridge and stove. My wife and I are far
enough apart on the Wheaton scale that that she frequently makes me angry and she thinks I’m a bit mad. As this carbuncle of a property was her choice, she would have to live by my rules and from day one, we only used cleaning products you can eat. And it worked. She was genuinely impressed with the power of vinegar, bicarb and citric acid.
It wasn’t all work and no play, this was also a holiday, so we explored. I found a phenomenal farm shop, run by super friendly people, and I happily signed up to their CSA. The
local sandwich /
coffee shop had appalling ratings, but as one of the only independent and surviving businesses in the village, we decided to visit and all got food poisoning. However, we liked the place and decided to give it a second shot, thinking we would now be immune to what ever had made us ill, and maybe it was just new
water and new surroundings. We discovered it was now under new ownership and the bad reviews were history and irrelevant. We didn’t get sick and it’s been a great place to visit and sip coffee and plan. If we want the village to recover and thrive then it starts with supporting the few remaining businesses.
There’s a large Latino / Hispanic community so on Taco Tuesday we visited a place describing itself as authentic Mexican. I’ve never been to Mexico although I do cook a lot of Mexican food. It was amazing. Super fresh and tasty food. Another win.
We had other wins, finding a great place to walk the dog and a local supermarket / grocery store. Lowes and Home Depot are both close by and when I had to replace all the plumbing under the sink, I was very grateful for their friendly staff and their patience when I tried to explain what I was looking for . . . When it comes to DIY products, you realise we only pretend to speak the same language.
This isn’t my first renovation. I’ve always liked fixing things. It is my largest and grandest project by a considerable margin. I have many challenges over the next three years with deadlines and budget constraints. This won’t be 100%
permie compliant . . . I’m going to have to live with that and I’ll do my best. Here are some of my challenges:
- 36 broken sash windows with 80’s aluminium storm windows. My plan is to restore the windows and replace the storm windows with wooden frames.
- 12 steam radiators and one oil powered boiler. I’d like to keep the
cast iron radiators but not have to heat the whole house.
- Restore the brick bread-oven in the basement
- Replace the 1950’s
wood burning basement stove with a RHM /
Oven
- Convert the attic to a guest bedroom with bathroom and walk in dressing room.
- Convert the ‘nursery’ to a master bedroom ensuite
- Remove all ‘new’ floor surfaces and restore the original boards
- Paint every room
- Remove all the broken office style blinds and install proper curtains
- Have a plan for all the fireplaces
- New kitchen
- New family bathroom
- See if the broken
solar water heater can be repaired
- Install
solar
- Remove all dependence on oil
- Install / replace ceiling fans
- Strip, assess and repair all doors
- Replumb all the basement pipes
- Build a garage (I’ll be using it for my bikes . . .)
- Build a workshop in the basement
- Build a pantry
And I haven’t even started thinking about the outside space other than getting rid of 80% of the stupidly long driveway and building a garage.
Much to the amusement of my neighbour, I installed a washing line. When I first moved to the US, I installed an outside line. I upgraded to a pulley system as a Nest PEP badge. I installed the same system because it works so well. Hanging washing fills me with an enormous sense of well being. It’s hard to explain but I’m sure I’m not alone. I think I remember reading something along the lines of, ‘If you only do one thing, harvest rain water’. Well, my suggestion is ‘If you only do one thing, install a pulley washing line’.
.png)
13
