The Money Pit.

Anyone else seen it, or is it only saddos like myself? A young couple (played by Shelley Long before she started taking herself too seriously, and Tom Hanks before he became, well, serious) buy a dilapidated house and try to rebuild it. Their contractor promises it'll be done in two weeks. Naturally it takes a lot longer than that because otherwise it wouldn't be much of a film - Two weeks? Rebuild? You got it! Everything that can go wrong does. It's a comedy of errors in pretty much every sense of the word.

A clip:

I always feel like we're seconds away from that happening to us.

The Cowboy and Angus conferred and remember that whole ripping off the ceiling in the soon-to-be kitchen escapade last weekend? Yeah. Turns out we weren't done. In conferring and looking at plans, it appeared the ceiling was still not right.

So Angus and I got up on ladders, armed ourselves with crowbars and goggles, and went to check it out.

That's not a blurry photo. That's dust. 100 years of dust to be exact. The babies were safely cocooned in another room, entertained by bouncy chairs, and Angus and I went to town.

It sucked big, gaping donkey balls. And the mess - dear God, the MESS.

We took the ceiling off completely, right back to the original joists. The ceiling was indeed too low, and now when the new ceiling goes on it'll be to regulation, which is 5cm (2in) from the joists. So we now have a great big high ceiling in the now-empty living room.

And quite a view from above, too.

Flixster - Share Movies

I keed. The real view is this:

That would be light coming in from the floorboards from under my freakishly long toes. You can look right up into our bedroom from the spaces between the boards.

Our new temporary living room is the artist formerly known as the guest room.

That'd be the babies checking out the TV in preparation for In the Night Garden. The living room has everything we need - babies, TV, iDeck, couch, and mattresses lining the walls in case we feel we need a good bouncing.

The work never stops. We ripped out the ceilings on Saturday. On Sunday Angus drove 300 miles to pick up our new stove as we got a great deal on it if we were willing to drive to Nottingham (save £1000? Yes please.) While he was spending 7 hours on the road I watched the kids, did the grocery shopping, cleaned, and painted the garage. We were exhausted. And then yesterday - because it was a bank holiday - I continued my War on Carpets and ripped out the carpet on the landing with assistance from my apprentice Maggie.

Maybe it's because I fear I'll fall through a hole in the floor and be stuck in carpet for 24 hours.

Know what I found? Floorboards. Lovely ones. They were tarred at one stage, which is what people did when they had limited incomes - you had a rug on the floor and tarred around it to give the illusion of floor covering.

I didn't take the carpeting off the stairs, as they'll be too slippery and the entire staircase is going anyway, but I took the carpet off one stair and found gorgeous wooden stairs just aching to be stripped of carpet and provided with a loving coat of paint. Sadly, we can't reuse the stairs.

While I ripped out carpet Angus channeled holes in the walls of the to-be kitchen for the cabling which of course meant more brick dust because you just can't get enough brick dust, it's such a great thing, the way it covers everything and clogs the vacuum cleaner.

It's all exhausting. Really exhausting. We're covered in cuts and scrapes and bruises. Our bruises have bruises. Those bruises have moved in and adopted pets. I have a feeling that we'll be blowing our nose and brick dust will be coming out in our snot for the rest of our lives. When we finally showered late Saturday, after a day of ripping out ceilings, I had to wash my hair multiple times just to get all the dust out. The babies are always completely safe, they don't get exposed to the dust, but Angus and I are often one giant ball of grey.

But it's coming along.

No really. It is.

That's me standing on the first floor of what will be the new nursery.

I know that it won't always be like this, and we're only 5 weeks into a 16 week build. This week the tarps should go and the roof starts to go on. We get windows installed. Lots of things happening. Considering the fact that we're living in half a house, it's a constant fight with dust, we only have half a roof, the drains in our temporary kitchen are giving out, the grass in our garden is dead and whole sections are giant mud pits, and we're spending a fortune on what looks like tarp and duct tape, we're both actually pretty upbeat and still raring to go.

Which is a good thing, considering the sheer mountain of work we have ahead of us.

-H.

Posted by: Everydaystranger at 08:22 AM | Comments (21) | Add Comment
Post contains 892 words, total size 7 kb.

1 I would love to come to your aid- there's nothing better against rage or fury than to tear down some innocent walls or ceilings. But alas. My work's killing me. Plus, there's no one to cat-sit my four furry felines... But perhaps they might assist your apprenti-cat in tearing out some carpet? After they've finished sitting in some quarantine kennel, that is. Lily

Posted by: Lily at May 06, 2008 09:29 AM (Y8m4l)

2 Oh my. So much for the vaunted IBC* that will unify the world. The photos bring so many questions to mind. I won't ask because they're rather detailed and your eyes will begin to glaze over. However you ARE making excellent progress. *IBC = International Building Code

Posted by: ~Easy at May 06, 2008 11:16 AM (XD24A)

3 I know exactly how you feel. My hubby and I have been renovating our 110 year old home for the last 9 months. At this point we have only plastic sheeting for walls and the floor outside our bedroom door (what will be the guest room) has a gaping hole in it. Makes going to the bathroom in the night a bit of a challenge! And I hear you on the dust! Horsehair plaster is EVIL! I just keep telling myself that it will be GORGEOUS in the end! Yes, that's the ticket....

Posted by: Suzanne at May 06, 2008 11:31 AM (Pt6ba)

4 I am a pizza....

Posted by: statia at May 06, 2008 12:32 PM (5IjqH)

5 Funny thing is, I think of that flick every time you post pictures of the house. "Ahh, home crap home!" The upside of course is that I can tell, despite what the pictures may look like at first glance, that the house is coming along, and I can see where things are headed. How you stay so together is beyond me-it is like you are Superwoman. Really.

Posted by: Teresa at May 06, 2008 12:57 PM (q/m+M)

6 I love watching your renovation process, seeing the before and after photos, but man I'm glad it's not me doing it. I'm totally overwhelmed by the idea of ripping out some azalea bushes (tips?), I would probably have a nervous breakdown faced with that kind of project!

Posted by: geeky at May 06, 2008 01:07 PM (ziVl9)

7 The progress is really amazing. And your photo of Angus ripping out the ceiling made me cough from the dust clear over here.

Posted by: Lisa at May 06, 2008 01:40 PM (EcHBm)

8 I've seen it, but your house wont fall down AFTER the work is finished. It is going to be so worth it! I dont envy you living that way in the meantime, anyone would have a hard time with that.

Posted by: Christina at May 06, 2008 01:51 PM (J6Yo6)

9 Let's try BRAD! Brad Brad bo bad banana fana fo fad me mi mo mad BRAAAAAAD! Holy holy, I love that movie.

Posted by: Ms. Pants at May 06, 2008 02:09 PM (+p4Zf)

10 I am very impressed by all this work that you are doing. Just think of how nice it will be when it is done.

Posted by: Jen at May 06, 2008 02:47 PM (FYm8s)

11 For me, the best part of that movie...when the Turkey is launched out of the oven. Everday is one day closer to a beautiful home.

Posted by: Heidi at May 06, 2008 03:45 PM (cR5BU)

12 I just love it when you talk house. When you are anticipating the ending -- getting there is a trip of joy. I enjoy the story and the pics. J

Posted by: Jim at May 06, 2008 04:25 PM (hDgM5)

13 Damn girl! You weren't kidding on Flickr when you talked about your second toe being longer than your first! What? Come on. You knew you could count on me to comment on the least important part of this post, right?

Posted by: amy t. at May 06, 2008 04:50 PM (3dOTd)

14 Progress is awesome. The roof's the biggest thing, honestly, because it will protect the rest of the house while the work is completed. And from the pics I can already tell that they're doing a solid job. Looking forward to more updates!

Posted by: B. Durbin at May 06, 2008 05:53 PM (tie24)

15 I used to love the Money Pit. I think I'm going to have to find a copy to remind me.

Posted by: amber at May 06, 2008 06:07 PM (HCbA1)

16 I don't know how you do it. You never cease to amaze me. You look after infants; you demo, clean, and manage to get in a post. I have a 5 week old infant and I have managed one post since he has been born. I consider myself accomplished if I get a shower in and out of the house a few times a week. Kudos to you.

Posted by: Sk at May 06, 2008 07:04 PM (Hpefv)

17 I love Tom Hanks with a unhealthy passion. He's lucky I'm lazy or I'd be one of those stalkers you read about in Page Six or on CourtTV. As for you? I love your cute lil' toes and I want you two to come spend a couplea weeks with us and our 213 year-old house. Please? I'll buy wine. Lots and lots of wine. Heh.

Posted by: Margi at May 06, 2008 09:18 PM (jAhxp)

18 It'll be worth it in the end!! Until then, a little more Tom (in the classic carpet scene): http://youtube.com/watch?v=8hMCxmxL-Xs

Posted by: Lori at May 06, 2008 10:36 PM (MY7JG)

19 Re. dust snot... I hear that sinus rinse, which is a lovely (if really disgusting) thing anyway, is great for dust-removal.

Posted by: Sarah at May 07, 2008 02:32 AM (gZ16B)

20 We've been renovating for five years - can only do bits as we save. We lived without a hall ceiling for 4 years. No bathroom for 6 months. No kitchen for almost a year. I watch that film at least 3 times a year for moral support. I SO get your recent posts!!

Posted by: Flikka at May 07, 2008 06:06 AM (o19Kc)

21 Looks like a lot of great progress! I do love that movie--and was so glad you included a clip from the movie in your post. The part where the bathtub falls through the floor--and tom hanks' laughter is one of the best mood-lifters around!

Posted by: JJ at May 07, 2008 02:25 PM (avMn1)

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