Baby It's Cold Inside

With this week's cold, foggy inversion we have made an unpleasant discovery.

To preface this, we knew that the new heat pump system, that was installed during our remodel, would have difficulty "keeping up" during cold weather.

We knew that an auxiliary heat source was recommended.

We thought that meant the heat pump would just have to work more to attempt to heat the house and the auxiliary heat source was optional.

What we somehow did not realize was that it wouldn't function at all when the temperature dipped below 35 degrees or so.

Yes, you are marveling at our brilliance right now.

This morning we woke up to a temperature of 54 degrees, inside our house.

So, we have invested in a couple of space heaters and are trying to figure out our best options for the "auxiliary" source. We have a fireplace that needs a lot of work and we have an old oil heat system, that needs a lot of work. Note "lots of work" = "lots of money".

In the meantime, I am sipping hot tea while curled up in my big green chair in front of our new "Heat Dish" and opting for denial. I'm rather comfy right here.

Here's a song to warm you up (remember to pause my playlist at the bottom of the page):

Baby It's Cold Outside

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Apparently there is an outcry among my many blog stalkers (all two of you) to post current pictures of the house. I have hesitated to do so up to this point because it would require me to make an effort to pick up all the clutter that grows exponentially every time I turn around. However, just to please you, I will take you on a virtual tour. Buckle up.

The Good (what I wish the house looked like for more than five minutes):

The Bad (what it looked like before I cleaned up for pictures):

The Ugly (what I didn't even bother to clean up and the projects that need to be done):

There you go. Are you happy now? You should be, you made me clean my house. Well, some of it.

Jen

Farmhouse Renovation: Part Whatever, I'm Too Tired to Care

I am so tired of painting.

Farmhouse Renovation: Part Six, A Brief Update

This is Jennifer with the latest, up-to-the-minute news here on Hilty Sprouts. Yes, yes I'm a geek, this is well established territory... ;0). I was just emulating Bridget Jones on "Sit Up Britain", she's my role model you know. Anyway, I digress...

1. Looks like red won at the polls (thanks to all 8 of you who voted! I'm grateful, not bitter. Nope, not at all. Too many cooks in the kitchen, you know, not a good thing!). If you checked the comments at all you will have discovered that recycling man leaked the final result of the Great Paint Debate...RED. It is actually quite lovely and vintagey and by golly, I like it. There I said it. Pictures are forthcoming. Someone (me) forgot to bring the camera all weekend long.

2. What's done:
a. rooms painted, check (the door and window trim has primer, WHAT a pain).
b. bathroom counter tops and vanities installed, check, check.

3. This week's schedule:
a. Wednesday: vinyl flooring (kitchen & bath).
b. Thursday: the oh so important plumbing! No mo' "po' potty"!
c. Friday: master bedroom carpet.
d. Monday: final seal on wood floors.
e. Ta da! Then we move in!

The End (for now).
Jen

Farmhouse Renovation: Part 5

Look at these GORGEOUS, SHINY, BEEYOOTIFUL wood floors! Hooray! It is the coolest thing to start with a house that has the nastiest, cat pee smelling carpets you can possibly imagine and then find the beauty within. These floors were there the whole time just aching to be revealed!

This is the area that had to be replaced. You might recall the mysterious holes drilled in the floor. I have no idea why they were there but they're gone now! Decisions, decisions. Okay, here are the colors we chose. Very light blue called "breathless" (hee hee, that just sounds funny) in the bathroom.
The office is chocolate brown. We were craving chocolate pudding when we painted this room. Really, I could almost taste it, I felt like licking the walls. This color is a diet killer.
We cannot decide what to paint in the living room! We had reached a compromise with yellow (I wanted to stay neutral like a sand, tan, brown, etc. and Joel wanted red or orange. Now neither one of us likes yellow in this room. Ugh! Back to the drawing board. We had some friends come out to visit us on Sunday and they sided with me on the great paint debate. What color do you think we should choose?

We tried two shades of green in the master bedroom and we went with the lighter shade. It's a very happy color. I felt good every time I walked in there. About ten minutes before this picture was taken we noticed the telltale signs of a poopy diaper when Z walked by. However, he insisted that he get "one more minute mommy" to finish up so we let him wander off to do his thing. This is how we found him. It must have taken a lot out of him! I swear the kid will do anything to avoid a diaper change. Potty training has been temporarily suspended out at the farm because Z is scared of the "Po' potty" as he calls the portable throne outside. I prefer "po' potty" over "honey bucket" which is my husband's charming term of choice. Boy, I never thought I would talk this much about bodily functions in a blog post but I have covered cat pee, poopy diapers and porta-potties in one fell swoop. Please forgive me. ;0)

Farmhouse Renovation: Part 4

It's all one color! Woohoo! The stucco isn't done yet, this is just the first layer. I guess it's kind of like a primer coat.

New french doors.
Family Project!

This captured my good side, don't you think? Ha ha.

Break time!

Farm House Renovaton: Part 3

After spending three days straight putting up sheet rock, it is almost done! The kids and I tried to "help" but it may have been faster without us. I attempted to make myself useful as gopher-girl, handing out nails, running for tools, holding pieces of sheet rock in place and sweeping the floor. The kids tried to help by getting underfoot, moving the tools to random locations, and keeping up a constant stream of chatter. Despite it all we made progress and had a good time together as a family. Joel is out there again today completing the sheet rock in the master bedroom and scraping the weird crusty ceiling texture off in the living/dining room area. Later this week the "tape & texture" guy (don't you just love my technical terminology?) will finish the walls and then we will paint. I hate painting. It is boring, frustrating, tedious work and I cannot make it look the way I picture it in my head. Choosing colors stresses me out too.We painted one bathroom in our last house a hideous purple and I told myself never again. Well, never say never.

Living room

Kid's Bathroom-- I should point out that we did not install the sheet rock in the bathrooms. I must give credit where it is due! ;) The bathrooms are part of the contractor's bid. Master Bathroom


In the Master Bedroom you may recall the back part of the chimney painted a lovely bubblegum pink? Well, say goodbye, because Joel framed the top of it in.

Office

Look at this shiny new air conditioner! It sure beats the nasty swamp cooler that was out back (see below).

So, after the texture and paint then the flooring people will work on the hardwood floors, carpet and vinyl. Then the sinks, toilets, etc. will be installed. The french doors in the mudroom and the backdoor in the bedroom will also go in soon. As I write this the stucco guy is working on the outside of the house. The only parts of the house that we are not going to remodel right now are the kitchen and mudroom (other than the floors). We'll tackle those two rooms when the budget allows (it might be a while!). We are shooting for a move in date of May 1st which is when our current home will be rented out. Thanks for your continued prayers for our project to go well.

Jen