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| The whole 2nd floor was this color |
But the holiday reminded me that it has been forty years
since Gramps has been around for Thanksgiving dinner, and forty-nine since
Grandma has cooked a turkey. It has already been two years since Mom and Aunt
Joan have been home for the holidays and nearly a year since Jim and I began
this project.
I want to take a few lines of this account to thank Jim for
tirelessly spending days and evenings all alone to install outlets, drill holes
to run wires, fill every possible cavity with an over-abundance of insulation,
and remove a preposterous amount of drywall. OMG I hate drywall dust. He
promises the insulation made out of rocks and wool will keep us sweltering,
even in the coldest temperatures, and keep us safe from the threat of fire.
Poor guy has been running back and forth to the permit
office. Something about codes and standards having changed in the last ten
years, updated wiring with circuit breakers equipped with Arc-Fault
protection. 
We installed new windows to reduce drafts and improve the
appearance. In the process we discovered
the original windows were an original Anderson patent! That old bottle labeled “poison” found in the
wall is still perplexing!
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| The old chimney |
The cottage is starting to shape up. By September we were
ready to start framing the bedrooms and bathroom. By the end of October we had
installed all of the insulation in the second floor. And November has been
dedicated to stripping paint of old doors and getting the kitchen ready for the
new cabinets.
Then next couple of months promise to have substantial,
visible changes worth blogging about. Until then, here are a few pictures of
the tedious, not-so-sexy work that has been going on.
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| Original Stencils |
