Remember what the Underdog’s garage looked like a month ago? {For all the details on the numbered items, click here.}
Well, a month later, the garage itself doesn’t look any different but its contents have changed. The stuff that was in the attic is gone along with the original carpet and padding. Here’s what’s goin’ on in the garage now…
1 – The electric box now has power. Yippee! Handy Hubby and a family friend upgraded and moved the original screw-in fuse box {from the laundry closet to the garage}.
{original fuse box}
{upgraded and relocated breaker box}
HH also buried the overhead service line and ran a new service line to the location of a future heat pump. That’s a hint at what #3 is.
{freshly buried overhead service line and new line to future heat pump}
We had my Dad and Grandpa out to see the Underdog recently {they’re house men} and were surprised to learn that our heat pump will one day be living in a bed of rhubarb. That is, if I can’t successfully transplant it elsewhere.
We’re still working to nail down lighting, switch plate and outlet placements. Originally, we wanted to light the kitchen/living room area with lots of can lights but the future vaulted ceiling is posing a problem. We’re having trouble finding can lights that will fit in the narrow space between the new ceiling and roof. The new plan is to place can lights only along the recessed, flat section at the apex of the vaulted ceiling {the two slanted ceilings won’t meet each other at a sharp point to allow for a structural support, ductwork, and lighting} and have pendants above the island and sink. We hope to add under/overhead cabinet lights as task lighting.
2 – Handy Hubby has a new-ish nose. Last Wednesday, HH had surgery to correct a severely deviated septum. He took Thursday and Friday off of work ‘to heal’ but was truly thinking he’d use that time to work on the Underdog. Well, shame on us. Septoplasty is nothing to sneeze at. HH was pretty much in bed until Friday and took pain pills until Sunday. Thanks to everyone who left him words of encouragement on the blog last week. I know he felt better hearing from people who had gone through the same thing. His splints were removed yesterday and he happily started breathing through his nose and tasting food again. Still, doctor’s orders are to avoid exercise and heavy lifting. That means projects at the Underdog are on hold until HH is fully recovered. It’s slow going over here. Nothing like life getting in the way of a good reno!
3 – Before Handy Hubby went under the knife, he scored this heat pump on Craigslist. The Underdog has no central air and we’ve had a few people come out to give us quotes on adding A/C. The quotes were coming in at right around the $3,000 mark. After talking to a co-worker {HH is an engineer and works with other engineers who know a lot about house stuff so he likes to bounce ideas off them}, HH decided that a DIY installation of a heat pump would work just as well and cost $1,000’s less than having central air installed by a professional. He says it doesn’t sound all that difficult. I’ll believe it when I see it! I keep telling him he doesn’t have to DIY everything but he insists on cutting costs wherever possible.
The heat pump cost us $500 off Craigslist. From what I understand {after asking HH a bunch of annoying questions}, the biggest difference between a heat pump versus a central A/C unit is that the heat pump can actually move heat into AND out of the house…essentially acting as A/C and heat in one unit. We plan on keeping the existing furnace for backup during the winters. While I’m thinking of it, do any of you heat/cool your home with a heat pump?
4 – This is our IKEA kitchen-in-a-box minus the dishwasher and hood. I can’t believe it all fits into this small pile of boxes. We haven’t sorted through everything yet. We have 90 days from the date of purchase to make returns/changes.
{IKEA kitchen in boxes}
{disregard the old microwave and camping grill on the floor to the left of the fridge}
The dishwasher and hood were the two items that weren’t available from the warehouse to ship, so we picked them up at our local IKEA store ourselves and for now they’re living quietly in our current basement. The few other miscellaneous items {a couple of drawer fronts in various sizes} that weren’t available at the warehouse or our local store finally got restocked last week, so I quickly picked them up before they sold ’em all. {They are included in the kitchen pile above.} Apparently, the black-brown RAMSJÖ base cabinets with drawers are all the rage!
5 – The boys have their own workshop in the garage to keep them occupied. Thanks to Black & Decker, Layne and Everett have something safe to play with at the Underdog. Although the real stuff will always be tempting.
So that’s where things stand with the Underdog so far. Progress is slow and probably will be over the next few weeks while Handy Hubby continues to heal and travels overseas for his real job. I’ll be sharing some pictures of the entire ceiling in the kitchen/living room removed a little later on. I can already tell that vaulting the ceiling is going to make such a difference in the small space!
A few of you have asked about our reno timeline. I’m sorry to disappoint, but we really don’t have that much of a timeline in mind. Ideally, I’d like for our current home to sell and for the Underdog to be livable by September so Layne can start the school year at his new school. However, realistically, I can totally see that not happening. Even though we’ve had a lot of traffic through our home, many potential buyers who are interested in our home are in a situation where they need their current homes to sell first before they can make an offer on our home. For their sake and ours, I’m hoping things start to pick up. It’s definitely not easy living in a ready-to-show house with two kids day in and day out. Luckily, the weather is nice enough that we’re able to spend a lot of time outside. And I do wake up nearly every morning wondering, “Will today be the day?” It’s not healthy, so I’m trying very hard to focus my attention elsewhere. Like on Pinterest. Now, that’s healthy stuff right there.
images: all Dana Miller for House*Tweaking
DIY, kid-friendly