Progress-Jan31

This weeks's construction update brought to you by Nacho Celebrity Vacations - We Do the Work, So You Don't Screw It Up!

let's start with the Kim's since i didn't have anything to post last week. they are doing an addition to the East (river) side of their house. so basically, just bumping it out. here we have the new lower/"basement" addition. just think, all thyat just to storre a ladder!


and here we have some of the stringers going in for the roof/floor

you guys will be keeping the upstairs "deck" right? i mean it's the only one that took longer than ours.


and of course, Heidi's addition. i don't really have good pics of this. because of all the stuff laying around her construction area, it's actually hard to get a good photo. with Terry doing the work, i have faith a better picture is coming soon!


and this is looking in the newly "raised" garage. you can see the addition off to the right. if you were standing in the garage, you'd notice it's unusually tall and the doors are about 2-3 foot off the ground (see the next pic). so the obvious question becomes "why". the plan is she'll be backfilling the garage in order to raise the floor about 2 feet. and her yard elevation will completely change as well. that will be a huge improvement for her for any future "normal" floods - if there is such a thing anymore.




and then, the mother of all projects, Sarvers. Barry did walk me through the interior Sat, but i didn't have the camera with me so no photos to prove it. for now, these exterior shots will have to do. yeah, i don't think Donna is gonna have to worry about water in the kitchen anymore, unless it's a leaky faucet.



hmmm, that sliding glass door looks awfully familiar! come to think of it, mine is missing. coincidence? i think not!

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so how does one raise a house?

Heidi gives the phrase "raising the roof" a whole new meaning

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Construction Zone

okay, this is way late, but thought i'd post some old and some new. down on the river, we do it big and we all do it at the same time! construction that is! nacho and like to think our little gabion project has inspired people, but really, a good flood was all it took.

Ray's Wall: if it's possible to have sea wall envy, then i've got it. watching this thing go in was amazing. the finished product more so. guess what i'm asking for this year for Christmas!


Heidi: like many people on the river last year, Heidi's place suffered some pretty severe flood damage. so she qualified for the controversial grant that allowed you to move it, sell it to the government, or raise it. she went with the latter. you may recall a pic i posted in Nov. there's lots more to this than this pic. there's now an addition on the end facing you. i'll try to get pics later this week. let me just say, her brick guys were something else. they were there at amazing hours and really nice guys! they even letter Butterz inspect from time to time!


Sarver's: but by far, the biggest so far has been Sarver's. and boy does Donna deserve it! too bad i don't have any before pics but this first photo shows what was left after most of the house was demoed.

so because of the way the original house was built, cinder block on a slab, they can't raise it. so they just build on top of it. the shorter structure on the left, was the garage and the rest was the house. so everything you see in the photo above will be the new garage space. ahhh, can't you just smell the storage?

and this is what it looked like from the river before they did this....

the huge opening on the bottom left is the old picture window that once was their living room. that will now be a small garage door - again, jealous! the smaller window on the right was the master bedroom window.

so as you can see, Donna is gonna have to buy all kinds of trinkets and dusters to fill all this new space!

the Kims: no i haven't forgotten the neighbor neighbors. i just don't have anything to post yet. but, again, i'll try to rectify that for them as well.

and what are we working on? NOTHING!!! actually, i think we'd all be a great candidate for HGTV's Curb Appeal - The Block! so if you know someone.....

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organization and chaos

let me preface this by saying, this is in no way a New Year's resolution. i don't believe in them. you either do something or you don't. you stick with it or you don't. there's nothing magical about Jan 1. so my timing is simply a coincidence.

i am obsessed with design blogs. i subscribe to about 15 of them. for me, it's fun to look at what i will never achieve....style! not to mention, in many posts, organization. but i have reached my fill point on several things recently, clutter being one of them. i've said before that living on/in the river is a bit of a blessing. we are often forced to purge the garage at least once a year in preparation for a flood. unlike many people i know, i appreciate this. i need this. what i need now, is a flood INSIDE my home.

we have the typical clutter corners. the drawer of thingamajigs. a box of doodads. a closet of whatsithoosits. and i am just as guilty as nacho. so here's my task, NOT resolution. we are going to take one are/space each month and tackle it. that means getting rid of and getting somewhat organized.

i picked an easy one for Jan. we both have the old school, metal lockers and it's easy to toss stuff in there and forget it. so out go all the stupid receipts, 8 tubes of almost empty chap stick, coupons i will NEVER use, and general memorabilia clutter. my god, i can't remember what i had for breakfast this morning, i really don't think that lift ticket is gonna do much for a trip 3 years ago. this will be followed by like areas such as the Drawer of Emotional Attachment Items, and the Box of I Will Need This Nob One Day, or What if I Buy a VCR that Matches that Remote One Day? see where i'm headed. God help me when i get to the gardening/outside stuff!

the big scary item? THE OFFICE! like so many people, we are plagued by paper. i work in an environment that is pushing paperless. i like my paper. i'm a touch it feel it kinda girl. yeah, you bet! but this has to stop. so even though our office is not slated until Feb, i've taken steps this week to go paperless on things we can (bills, statements, etc.). but that's just one horn on our rhinoceros! there's photos and stupid "i was gonna put that in an album" crap all over the place. i know, hard to picture me scrap booking. my friend Julie is a therapist and even she gave up on "treating" me when trying to figure out how to get me moving on either booking it or pitching it. she won't even refer me now. so Feb should be interesting.

i welcome any ideas, sites, references that anyone has about getting an area like an office organized. and i don't mean buy some pretty boxes. we are so far beyond that. we are currently having the Great Scanning Debate of 2010! what things do you really need to keep your own copies of (scanned or otherwise) and what is just pure habit? so it's that kind of direction i'm looking for...how to GET RID of stuff cuz i can buy the pretty boxes myself!

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game on

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