Lake House update- what we’ve done in 15 days

If you’ve been following our Lake House project on Instagram or Facebook, you’ve seen some pictures already of what we’ve managed to change in 15 days of work. These are not 15 consecutive days, which is why it feels so much longer to us! Most of the work has happened in the bedrooms because we would like to have finished places to sleep while working on the rest of the house. We have done all of the work ourselves (either just Matt and I or the two of us and our parents) with the exception of the boat dock and the sump pump. This list does not include all of the cleaning that we did, which took up a day and a half, but does include moving things from storage which has been equally time consuming but spread out over multiple days and trips to the lake. So here it is- a complete list, room by room, of what we have done so far:

The Exterior

• Purchased our used dock (the one that came with the house was called “scary” by one expert and “a catastrophe” by another so we had to replace it), hired it to be put in the lake, and brought our boat to the house from the marina where we used to keep it docked.
• Changed our entry door lockset to this by Schlage from Menards.
• Added an outlet on the deck to keep our sump pump running. It’s currently on a timer because it doesn’t have a float- we will be replacing that within the next two weeks. We have hired this job out because the crawlspace is a thing of nightmares. *shudder*
• Sprayed foam insulation on the foundation to keep out some crazy large bees.

The Entryway/Future Mudroom

• Put up Magic Mesh from Home Depot on the stairwell.
• Moved a left-behind shelving unit from upstairs to organize our tools.

The Kitchen

• Tore out railings, carpet, and floor boards from the overhead loft. It’s only 6’6″ from the ground and closes off the space in a major way. The beams are still hanging out until we have an engineer take a look at them to see if they are load bearing. You know, so we don’t make the house collapse or something like that.
• Bought a refrigerator, microhood, and range. The range is installed, the microhood is in a box until we put cabinets in (tentatively planned for August), and the fridge is drama. That’s right- drama. The first one that was delivered had a defect on the top of the freezer door, likely from over-insulating, and the replacement door has a crooked logo. We should get our third freezer door in 3 weeks.
• Brought in our table and chairs from storage, along with a microwave we’re borrowing from Matt’s parents until we install ours.

The Great Room

• Brought our bunk beds from storage for a temporary sleeping solution.
• Brought toys and a small café table and chairs from storage so the kids can play and color.
• Priorities- brought our media table and TV from storage so we can stream from our Amazon Fire stick!
• Replaced a switch plate and outlet cover on the fireplace.

The Guest Bedroom and Bath

• Removed wallpaper and chair rail.
• Spackled wall imperfections.
• Added additional drywall to the east wall which was paneling covered with drywall and a molding strip 8 feet up the wall. We added the additional triangle of drywall to cover the rest of the paneling up to the peak of the ceiling from a piece we had left at home from our basement project.
• Added metal drywall corners to eliminate spaces between the walls.
• Replaced moldings on the window and the door to the bathroom.
• Replaced half of the baseboards. We have to figure out what we’re doing with the moldings on the door to the bedroom. It’s an interesting situation.
• Replaced toilet seat.
• Repaired and replaced a broken and leaking faucet on the bathtub shower.
• Brought in the crib and all of our linens from storage.

The Master Bedroom and Bathroom

• Removed carpet from bedroom and bathroom stairs.
• Removed wallpaper and paneling.
• Scraped, sanded, and washed walls.
• Replaced drywall above and below the large window and above the door connecting the two bedrooms because of mold.
• Added an electrical box in order to have symmetrical wall sconces that frame the bed. If you remember from our Lake House Tour post, this room has 22 plugs, either conventionally or very oddly placed. We tied into one of those that is almost higher than the window.
• Replaced all door and window moldings.
• Uncovered facing brick from what may have been an old fireplace that had already been converted into a closet. We’re skeptical that it was actually a fireplace.
• Covered popcorn ceiling with beadboard panels.
• Filled seams, butt joints, and nail holes with wood filler and sanded.
• Primed upper walls and moldings with Kilz bonding primer. We did not prime the entire wall because we will be adding wainscoting to the lower portion of the walls.

The Boys’ Bedroom and Bathroom

• Removed carpet from bedroom and bathroom.
• Tore out the existing closet to create a better space for the bunk beds.
• Removed old track lighting.
• Converted the second staircase entry into a new closet.
• Covered popcorn ceiling with beadboard panels.
• Filled seams, butt joints, and nail holes with wood filler and sanded.
• Washed the walls and repaired holes and splintered panels with drywall compound (an experiment) or wood filler.
• Sprayed two coats of Kilz bonding primer on the paneled walls and doors.
• Replaced closet and bedroom door moldings.
• Installed a new sliding door handle.

Our timeline has been delayed on what we planned to have finished by now, like the bedroom flooring for example. As with most old home renovations we ran into some things that we did not expect or plan for, such as moldy drywall, replacing the moldings (unexpected, but they have made a huge impact), faulty plumbing, and appliance defects and delivery delays. I figured that it would be physically exhausting, but what I didn’t expect was that it would also be mentally draining. That shouldn’t be too surprising considering that we are not experts and this is our first major renovation project. Also, staring at walls and ceilings for hours upon hours while you’re scraping or scrubbing or filling or sanding is super-duper tedious and you have to dig deep and find the metal stamina to keep going.

As our realtor said when we were considering purchasing the property, you can eat an elephant if you do it one bite at a time. That is such a gross adage, but it certainly would help if we did a little bit at a time- or asked more people to help consume our proverbial elephant. Ack! Okay, I’m done with the elephant metaphor. Doing things a little bit at a time isn’t exactly our style- especially not for Matt- so we kind of just hit this thing hard from the start. We will be forced to slow down a bit in the coming weeks because we have work-life events scheduled which will hopefully give us time to recharge so we can get back at it with the same energy and tenacity we had at the beginning.

This was just 15 days- I keep repeating that in my mind- let’s see what happens after 30! Thanks for reading 🙂