My Little House in Pine Lake: Part 6 of 7: Inside

Here are some shots of the inside of my house. Look below the photos for probably boring descriptions of my past and planned home improvement projects.

View from Back Room

View from Living Room

Wall of Mirrors

An Old Furnace with Brave New Paint

Dining Nook

Kitchen. The fluorescent light fixture
has since been replaced with hanging track lights.

New dishwasher, refrigerator, and kitchen island. The sink is now white.

New Sink

Back Room

Upstairs Office

Track Lights in Bedroom

New Hardware on Funky Prop-Open Rear Window

Between 1999 and 2006 I had a second job as an editor of a a magazine for a non-profit. It paid well-- enough to finance all sorts of house projects through those years. Without borrowing money, I was able to bring my shabby lady a little dignify.

Remodeling the house was a lot of work, but since the houses in Pine Lake are small (including mine), most were within reason physically and economically. Here's some of what I did between 1999 and 2006 or so.

I gave away the half-sized washer and dryer and put my own appliances in the laundry room. They fit-- barely, but they fit. I had the green Kenmore fridge hauled away and haunted the Sears scratch-and-dent store in Tucker until I found a unit that had the features I wanted at the price I wanted. It barely squeaked in below the cabinet above. I picked up a scratch-and-dent stove hood at the same time and installed it. That was a two-person job, but I managed by balancing it on my back and maneuvering it onto the screws I had set for it.

I painted the walls and woodwork, stuck brass knobs on all the drawers and cabinets, took out the shallow stainless steel kitchen sink and replaced it with a deep double white fiberglass sink with a new Moen faucet, and ripped out a row of drawers that didn't work right and had a dishwasher installed. I bought a carousel at Home Depot and turned inaccessible space at the corner of  the kitchen counter into an accessible storage place for canned goods. I replaced the flickering flourescent overhead light in the kitchen with hanging track lights and slid a kitchen island I made from parts from Home Depot underneath. I added accent lights under the cabinets and halogen lights above the sink.

I ran telephone wire throughout the house and took advantage of a Comcast special to have cable outlets installed in every room for nearly free. I replaced the bathroom sink and medicine cabinet and the bar light above the mirror. On one of her visits, Sandra hung curtains in the living room. On another of her trips we bought a futon with the most comfortable mattress in the world, a coffee table, and a chair, and placed them in the back room.

I ran track lights in my bedroom and added a big slab of stone to make it easier to enter. I placed a second slab at the front stoop, and for the same reason. I bought a slightly-used 220-volt air conditioner and had it placed in one of the big windows at the top of the stairs, where it has kept my house perfectly cool for more than ten years (I couldn't lift the darn thing, it was so heavy). I had a skylight replaced and hired Dennis Rotch of the city to put a new roof on the back side of the house. I put gas logs in the fireplace in the back room. I had tile laid just inside the front door, making a small entry spot.

I replaced the cheap front storm door with a new all-glass door, and then had new front and back doors hung and put a screen door at the back. I covered the tilting concrete steps at the back door with a small deck and made a concrete landing at its base. I hung a door on the stone shed at the back of the house. I put fencing up on both sides of the house. And I planted lots of plants: a blue spruce, hydrangeas, camellias, holly, boxwood, rhododendron, all sorts of azaleas, and a Japanese maple. I tried to grow grass, but there was just too much shade. I eventually gave up.

Eventually the nonprofit got broke and my editing job went away, but it had lasted long enough for me to update and beautify my house. I didn't get everything done I wanted, but most of it, and, because I did most of the work by myself and because the house is small, at eminently reasonably prices. 

For monetary reason I've not done much over the past five years, but it now looks as if I'll be able to resume projects. On my list are new vinyl flooring for the kitchen, a new stove and countertops (and a second carousel on the stove side of the counter, where there's also wasted space), a new front porch light and doorbell, a good washing of the house and fence and decks, a low-flow toilet and tile floor in the bathroom, and, medium-range, a new roof for the front side of the house, new carpet in the living room and back room and wood flooring to replace the carpet upstairs.