olivep2p

Coming up on 3 months…

February 5, 2022February 5, 2022 olivep2p

I keep stressing out because it seems like we don’t seem to be making very much progress, but then I look around and we’ve touched so much. Guess it’s just that there is so much to do…something like trying to empty the ocean with a spoon?!?! We actually have quite a bit going on inside and outside over the past eleven weeks…

Peder has 95% of the main floor framed out, with only the kitchen ceiling and stairwell remaining. Working through bids on getting the HVAC installed so that should happen soon. Then we need to get the plumbing and electric done.

All the exterior painting is complete and last weekend the garden walls in front of the house were power washed and painted as well. Huge improvement! The new windows are expected within the next 3-4 weeks and the new front door is sitting in the garage waiting to be installed. With a new front entry walkway put in, we spent a couple hours cleaning up the concrete overflow from the forms and filling in the edges with top soil for a finishing touch.

Peder “minding the gap” and filling in top soil along the new walkway…notice the new house numbers!

We’ve had Nate Patton from Top Knot Tree Services on site for the past two weeks doing a significant amount of tree trimming and removal. We had a couple dead trees and several more with dead branches overhanging buildings, power lines and the road. We probably have enough wood to have a fire pit going every night for a couple of years. However, our plan is to set aside some of it and then put a sign up offering it to anyone who wants to haul it away. We’ve moved a number of small trees in pots from Wisconsin to Centerton and now Rogers, and they are destined to get planted this Spring. One is a pine tree from our house in Fredonia and another a cedar from our lake house on Boom Bay!

Nate rappelling down after taking down overhanging limbs.

Super happy that we’ve had enough warm days to have Sand’s Decorative Concrete working on the pool, patio and front walkway. Pictures in the Pool and Patio Gallery provide a glimpse at all the work the crew has done — definitely required some heavy machinery. We are really happy with the work they’ve done so far.

One powerful jack hammer breaking up the pool patio

To make room for the big equipment to rip out the existing concrete patio around the pool, we had to take down the wooden privacy fence. Getting rid of the stained wood required a trip to the local landfill. Another adventure and some fun when we had to purchase ($10) individual hard hats and safety vests in order to safely unload the trailer. It was actually pretty cool watching the extremely large excavators and bull dozers outfitted with steel spoked wheels compacting and pushing the construction waste as folks unloaded it from their trucks and trailers.

Journey

Christmas in the RV

December 29, 2021December 29, 2021 olivep2p

We’ve been full-time RV living for a bit over one month now and happy to say we aren’t tired of it yet! In fact, we probably have worked out most of the kinks and have settled into a daily routine. We’re cheating a little bit because we are using the basement bathroom in the house and, after completing the home office space above the garage, Matthew has moved there for his main living space.

Christmas in the RV came together a few days ahead of Christmas Day. At first, since we agreed to keep gifts small or non-existent due (1) to space being a precious commodity and (2) some significant investments already going into the house, we didn’t think we’d celebrate much at all (enter both Scrooge and The Grinch.) But one impulsive trip to Walmart had us getting a small table-top sized living tree and a few strings of lights. Friends gave us an ornament as a housewarming/Christmas gift, so this plus a small set of “fairy” lights were just perfect for the small tree. Laura strung some lights at the front of the motorhome cab and another set over the sofa. For some outdoor ambiance, Peder strung a set of lights around the garage door.

Just those few lights and some Christmas tunes playing really put us all in the mood on Christmas Day — even with a 70+ degree day! Laura and Peder took the opportunity to hit the bike trail and complete a 6.5 mile ride through historic downtown and then around Lake Atalanta. We got back to the RV in time to do a video call with Megan and Evan and then had a quick relax in the spa. Most of our cooking these days is done on the grill, but Peder pulled out his Traeger smoker and made a delicious smoked prime rib and potatoes. A side salad and pecan pie from Sam’s Club made the Christmas meal complete!

Design Tips

Iterative design

December 11, 2021December 11, 2021 olivep2p

This past week we finally received our building permit which officially marked the end of demo and shift to construction phase. We’ve settled into a routine where Laura walks the main floor of the house each morning to either disrupt or confirm Peder’s plans. The beauty of doing the work ourselves is that there really isn’t a penalty in the form of a change order if we make changes along the way. Instead, we are able to embrace iterative design.

These choices may be very simple, such as to paint or not paint accent bricks black. In this case, we simply painted one of the sills and confirmed this is the look we want. Worse case, we could just simply paint over it again in white or another color.

Painted one sill black and decided it was the way to go!

Other decisions may require a bit of imagination to envision how the space is going to look. This past week, we used a tape measure, blue tape, boards, and some foam insulation to help with visualizing the dining room space relative to future placement of our couch in the living room. Since this will be an open concept mixed space, we want to make sure we are maximizing sight lines and flow. As Laura ”sat” in various seats around the mock dining room table, we realized that where we had planned to open a wall to create easy access to the hall bath would better serve as a dry bar and side board area. Had we left the design as originally planned on paper, we would have been left with that awkward bathroom door in sight of the dining table.

Blue tape on floor and temporary horizontal board nailed to the wall mark the knee-wall, the pink foam board is the rough size of the dining room table. Board and level on the floor mark the “flow zone.” Tape measure ensures adequate accessibility.

Journey

Scary things

December 11, 2021 olivep2p

When you watch the home improvement shows on TV there is always the episode where the host opens up a wall to reveal a big, unexpected problem that now needs to be fixed. Since punching some of the early holes made us realize that we needed to take all the walls and ceilings to studs, nothing is really ”unexpected.” However, we can say there are many things we’ve found that have made us just shake our heads and shiver. The below image gallery is just a few of the scary things we’ve discovered.

How the roof hadn’t collapsed is a miracle. In the images below, you’ll see warped, cut, and floating boards criss-crossing the structure. We can only assume the original builders and any eventual remodelers never heard the words ”load bearing wall.”

And if the framing wasn’t enough, the wiring is for sure scary! Live wires in walls and uncovered junction boxes were the worst of the offenders. Peder spent a full day pulling out the majority of the scary bits.

And finally, a variety of examples showcasing damage from water, moisture, bugs and inexperienced builders!

Design Tips, Journey

First full week at West Olive

November 27, 2021December 11, 2021 olivep2p

We have been living the new lifestyle of RV life on the West Olive property for one week now. It can best be described as a week of organization. When we moved household belongings from Centerton to the new house, we pretty much did a dump and run. Everything to the garage or the RV. This of course created zero space in which to live or work. We easily could have been featured on an episode of Hoarding: Buried Alive!

We prioritized the week in terms of health and safety. This meant getting some field fence up to create a secure place for the three dogs so they didn’t have to be kept in the RV 24/7. We then turned to getting the washer and dryer hooked up and the utility sink re-hooked up in the basement. We created a clean-ish area where we could wash dishes and clothes (see pics in basement gallery.) Next, we got the basement bathroom fully cleaned and painted and fixed the shower so it worked. With new daylight bulbs above the sink and a bright shower curtain, it is a relative oasis in an otherwise scary-ish basement (see pic in basement gallery) as long as you don’t look up! Finally, we installed some motion detector lighting between the RV and the house so that early morning and late night trips to the bathroom or laundry are safer.

Laura spent one afternoon raking leaves from the pool patio area. It was about a mountain’s worth! But this makes for a much better spa experience than wading through knee-high leaves at night in flip flops!! Peder mounted our solar-powered yard lights around the top of the fence enclosure which makes for great ambiance at night. It’s pretty cool sitting in the spa at night listening to the city sounds and looking at the stars. We can just imagine how much better it will be when the pool area is finished. Laura’s and Matthew’s other chores were to organize the RV and the basement storage room. Meanwhile, Peder focused on the garage. It took about 3 days, but there is finally “a place for everything and everything in its place.” We definitely should have bought stock in plastic totes!

We closed the chapter on the demo phase of the house with the removal of the third dumpster! Matthew spent the good part of one day raking all the gravel and dirt around the driveway where the dumpsters were parked and used a magnet sweeper to ensure all of the roof nails, screws and pieces of metal were removed. It is amazing how many missed the dumpsters and were just waiting for an unsuspecting tire.

The room above the garage is almost complete with Peder installing all the trim today. The carpet is scheduled to be installed this coming Monday, so we should be able to move furniture up there either Monday night or early Tuesday. On Tuesday, our main contractor, Carlos, will also start painting the exterior of the house. The choice to paint or not paint was a big one. While we kind of like the old-style brick, it is just that…old. It definitely dates the house and touring other older brick homes in Rogers and Bentonville shows that painting is probably the right decision from an eventual resale point of view. We found an inspiration house and are going for similar colors. We already had the roof done in Rustic Slate and all the trim, facia and gutters in black. The house color Laura chose is Sherwin Williams White Flour (SW 7102). We have the Pella sales rep coming next week as well to measure and give us a quote on black-trim windows.