Floor Plan

Here is the floor plan (approximately) of the house. It's well laid out, with good pathways and plenty of room to put furniture. The top of the plan is the 9th Street side, which faces southwest(ish).

Bedsizing

To show how big the master bedroom is, I pulled down the rags that were pretending to be curtains and laid them on the floor in an approximately 8-foot by 8-foot pattern, which is easily larger than any king-size bed. I just looked it up: a king size bed is 6' 4" by 6' 8."

The new bathtub is kind of in the way, but you can see that there is tons of room on every side, even with an 8x8 square marked off.

The kitchen needs a lot of cosmetic work still, but look at how bright and sunny it is!

Progress

We've been making progress since the first post. Buddy came over and helped with the weeding.

I cut some of the oleanders back, but I'll need to call a landscaper to do the rest. 

This shot shows the shadeline at 9am mid-January. You can also sort of see the ailanthus (trees of hell) that we dug out. 

Here is one of the workmen tearing out the bathroom. 

 And here is what's going on next door, with the apartments being constructed.

Here's the old bathroom! It's out!

 Here's the new bathroom! It's bought! Hehe. Now to install it.

 We're replacing all the plumbing so it's new and reliable.

 The temporary fence is up in the backyard. This shot also shows the defunct swamp cooler and the tarp over the window hole.

 The backyard is home to construction machinery, but only for six months.

 I cleaned up the front bedroom. It filled the whole garbage bin.

This is where the sliding glass door is going to go. It will lead out to the garden, via a small deck we will build. It's going to make this room sunny and bright, so it will be a wonderful office or workroom. The area just outside this door will get morning sun, but then be shady in the afternoon. Perfect!

The Before Tour

It's a new year, and a new project: cleaning and renovating the house on Ninth Street. This property belonged to Rick's grandparents, who built the house. After his grandparents passed, Rick's parents kept it as a rental, and then Gwen lived in it until her death. Loren and his sisters have finished clearing out most of Gwen's stuff now.

The property has seen many years of "deferred maintenance" plus the fact that Gwen was not especially tidy. However, there is a nice property under all the filth and neglect, and we're determined to regain that.

This is an orientation shot of the properties across the street. These homes are modest but well kept.

The carport needs raking, and the oleander hedge needs some serious trimming. You can see the broken chainlink fence in the background.

 The front yard needs to be raked and pruned, and a lot of the plantings need to be dug and divided.

We'll be glad for the oleander hedge, but it needs serious pruning.

This tree is dead and needs to be removed.

The giant mimosa at the back of this shot needs to be removed also.

The living room isn't in too bad shape, although it needs to be cleaned seriously and the floor heater needs to be replaced.

The hallway leads to the office (yellow curtain). The master bedroom is behind that. Directly at the end of the hall is the second bedroom, and the bathroom is behind the living room wall.

This big picture window lets in a lot of light.

The office is still a mess. That window needs to be replaced, and the hot water heater needs to be secured and made safe and legal.

The master bedroom is in ok shape. Needs paint, cleaning and new curtains.

The second bedroom is still full of junk and needs to be cleaned out.

 The bathroom needs to be totally rebuilt.

We are replacing everything (but yes Nathan, there will be a toilet!).

The kitchen needs a lot of work also. Bedsides needing all new appliances, including the sink, it needs painting and flooring. And it's disgustingly dirty.

The house exterior desperately needs paint.