As we finished up the living area, Matt headed off to work in our only 4 wheel drive vehicle and then it started to snow...really hard. Although it was tempting to risk getting snowed into the house with no kids around and get tons of work done, leaving my wonderful cousin with extra kids to look after and the thought of a night in an old farmhouse with no heat drove me home. Then it snowed even more Sunday (and one of those sweet babies was throwing up), so we stayed home again. I worked Monday at my real job, but I mananged to get half of Tuesday off, so I was out to the farm as fast as my mini van would take me. (Yes, I actually drive a mini van...How else can I cart around 4 kids with reasonable gas mileage?)
I got all the carpet in the pink room up and prepped the walls for paper removal... More of the difficult to remove stuff. Thank God for steamers! That's 2 rooms carpet free! Then I made some calls... This is going to shed a little light into my personality, so be prepared... It might get ugly...
My first call was to the propane companies. We decided to go with a different company than L, mostly because we got a better rate, but also because her company was a pain to deal with. First I called the new company to find out when they could set the new tanks. Monday! That means next time I have the opportunity to get snowed in, guilt over my kids will be my only motivation to leave, because I will have heat! Then I called the company with the current tanks on our property and asked them to come pull the tanks. I also asked when it could be done. I was informed that it would be done when their truck was somewhere near my location which may take up to 3 weeks. This didn't really work for me since I wanted the new tanks in the exact same location as the current ones. I told the attendant this and she said the new company would just put their tanks beside the current ones until they could be picked up. I informed her this wouldn't work for me as I wanted the tanks in the EXACT same location, not next to the current ones. She basically told me that it wasn't her problem, and that was the deal they had with the new company. ***WARNING*** This is where it gets a little ugly... My response was something along the lines of: "Let me tell you my deal. Either you get the tanks out by Monday, or I get the tanks out by Monday. Your tanks are now on my property without my consent. I'm just letting you know because my guess is, it would work out better for you guys if you did that process and not me." (I told you this would shed some light on my personality.) I then hung up the phone and called my dad. Let's be real, there is no way I can move 2 huge propane tanks over the weekend without help. I confessed that I lost my temper and threatened something I couldn't really carry out without help. He immediately said, "They will be gone by Monday." Sigh...My hero!
Then I made some more calls to find out where to get some old looking pine beams. We have decided to take out the wall between the living area and the "middle room" and since this is an old house, when we (let's be real, my dad) checked out what the structure of the house looked like in the attic we (he) discovered that the trusses were site built and it looks like some type of support comes down at that wall. This means we need to come up with a support system to replace the wall. We thought it would look beautiful and completely appropriate to use rough hewn pine beams. 4x6 for the vertical beams and 4x8 for the header. I got a number of a local mill and when I called the gentleman said I could come up right then. So, off I went.
Now, I know I am a complete dork, and I am pretty sure it is because my dad worked at a timber mill most of my early life, but I love wood. I can remember seeing my first blue pine and thinking it was just about the most beautiful thing God ever created. Then I found out it happens from beetle kill, and I figured there was a purpose to bark beetles after all. (I told you I am a dork.) Well, the mill had about a hundred samples of wood and in about 2 minutes I knew exactly what I wanted. The gentelman asked me if I wanted to take samples home to think about it or show someone (I am pretty sure that was code for check with my husband, but I had already asked and he told me I could do the choosing). I assurred him that I didn't need time, I knew what I wanted and by the way, when could he get it done? This weekend!!!! And as much as I love wood, I have no concept of it's cost so I was thrilled when he quoted the price. No thinking required...I had a wall to tear down!
While he printed up the bid, I admired all the samples in the shop and dreamed of how else I could use wood to make our farmhouse home. I think he was pretty sure I had lost my mind as I picked up and touched nearly every piece of wood, but I was busy dreaming, so it didn't really bother me.
After I left, I called my dad. You may be noticing a trend here... Everything I know about handy work I learned from my dad. He can fix just about anything (sometime I'll have to tell you the story of our trip to Mexico when I was a kid and how he saved us with his McGuyver-esk skills.) We planned a work party for Saturday and I promised to get all the prep work (like pulling off the drywall and paneling to expose the frame and wiring) done ahead of times so it would only take my crew a few hours to complete the task. Next I texted my contractor cousin and then begged a friend to borrow her contractor husband for a few hours. With Matt and I there, we had a crew of 5... I thought that should do it for the job and the muscle required to heft up the header. I'll let you know how that goes. In the mean time I am trying to decide what type of support hardware to use and how I will finish the wood. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated...
Did I mention that after we decided to do the pine beams, Matt and I also decided to use low grade pine for the floors? I know it dings, but that will add to the "old farmhouse" look we are going for. Matt spent Monday driving 5 hours to pick up the pine. We found it at 99 cents a square foot, so it was worth the price of gas. And let me tell you, it is beautiful. I love the look of pine and I know I am in the minority, but I could spend hours looking at the knots and grain. I can't wait to see it in layed down... But that will be a while. I have a lot of work ahead of me before installing floors. I snapped a pic of the wood to share while it patiently waits in the garage...
So, now the plan is back to work on the house tomorrow. I had to go to my real job again today (and I honestly can't complain, that job helps fund our project and I really love what I do), but tomorrow I'm planning to start tearing down a wall!
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