Renovation

Renovation

Summer - to - Fall 2018

Definitions of renovation/renovate, gleaned from various sources:

“ … to reinvigorate; refresh; revive … ” (Dictionary.com)

“ … to restore to good condition; make new, or as if new again … “ (Dictionary.com)

“ … to impart new vigor; revive … “ (Free Dictionary)

“ … to restore to life, vigor, or activity; revive … “ (Merriam-Webster)

“ … to make fresh or sound again, as though new; clean up, replace worn and broken parts in, repair, etc. … “ (Collins English Dictionary)

And this, from Vocabulary.com, concerning word origin: “ … before the word underwent renovation in the early 15^th century, renovacyoun meant 'spiritual rebirth' … “.

Most people consider the season of renewal to be Spring. I feel this mostly in Autumn. I feel renewed and refreshed in the cool season after summer's heat, dust, and sluggishness have gone by.

The Great Annual Autumn Window-Washing Project

Before:

Door to the deck and "dogs' yard"

Window-washing is an annual autumnal event for me, symbolic in several ways:

• washing away the dirt of summer
• refreshing and renewing
• creating a clear view
• being ready for the colors of my favorite season so we can enjoy them all the more

After:

Back kitchen door

Our home environment has been undergoing renovations (by our own blood, sweat, and tears, so to speak). If you feel very connected to your environment, the process of its renovation seeps into your own being.

The Great Living Room Renovation Project

Before the window-washing commenced, something larger had to happen this year – a greater, more complex renewal, The Great Living Room Renovation. So many things needed to be accomplished through this – also symbolic. The living room needed to be:

• refreshed and renewed
• lightened up, cheered up
• opened up
• easier to clean
• more comfortable
• more conversational
• more “music-friendly” (both for recorded and live music)
• more accessible to our books (well, the ones in that room – we have them all over the house)
• more adaptable, overall

"Before" photos on August 14, 2018 (all wall hangings removed): 

The Great Living Room Floor Renovation Project

We needed to restore the old poplar floor “to good condition” and make it “as if new again”. This involved pulling up the awful old, smelly, stained carpet that had been put over the poplar floor a long time ago (if you have pets, it is best to not have carpet). The wood floor was put down in 1986, just after the original portion of the house was built (later, we put down poplar floors in the hallway and the one bedroom we had at the time).

After pulling up (with great effort, yet great delight) the old carpet and foam padding, we found that the old wood was really in great shape.

Then came the work of pulling out all the tiny carpet staples (the most tedious job, with no shortcuts), sanding the floor (most noisy and dusty job), and applying three coats of varnish (most pleasant job).

Don't ever have carpet put down over a wood floor - there is no shortcut to dealing with the bazillion tiny staples!

Note: the following three photos were taken after the walls were painted - more on that later!

Voila!

Then came the part we really did need to “make new”, and not just “as if”.

When we built the house, the kitchen was a long, narrow affair facing the living room. It was, altogether, more of a “great room”. The floor was linoleum, with all the layers that go beneath that. In 2003 we added a whole new, much larger kitchen to the outside of the old one. The old, little one became truly part of the living room, so it got covered with carpet at the same time as the living room.

Now we would need to make both living room sections match.

One end of the "old kitchen" part of the living room

This meant pulling up the old linoleum, then breaking up and removing the layers beneath – a tough job that was greatly aided by the help of our brother-in-law, Tom (who also helped with several other jobs, including pulling up carpet).

Richard at the "porch door end" of the "old kitchen" part of the living room - the old linoleum exposed after many years, bringing up old kitchen memories

Teamwork!

Where's the piano??

Then there was the trip down to Chattin Brothers Hardwoods, Inc., in the far south part of Knox County (Dicksburg Hills) to get the new poplar boards …

Approaching beautiful Dicksburg Hills from U.S. Hwy 41

Richard with Ray Chattin, loading the boards - get your wood from Ray!

Winding back home along 241 through the town of Decker and many farms. A common sight in Knox County are these converted school buses. In the summer they are seen on their way to markets, piled high with watermelons, then later they are full of pumpkins!

… then the laying of the boards (with Tom's help, again) …

Richard filling in the holes where the screws were put into the boards

… and the varnishing.

Half-varnished

Voila!

(Oh, not to forget – Richard and Tom had previously moved the massively heavy piano into the kitchen.)

(And, replacing all the baseboard molding in the whole living room and hallway.)

Life on the Porch

Meanwhile, our porch area was in a constant flux of materials and activity, frequently changing or obscuring our window views.

Some living room furniture was moved to the screened porch for awhile

But, this also altered the focus and angles on the views as late Summer progressed toward Autumn.

Meanwhile, other aspects of Life went on ...

The Great Living Room and Hallway Repainting Project

Before all the floor renovations happened, though, we did a complete repainting of the living room and hallway.

I had agonized over the colors for about a year, often coming home with new paint chips. All I really knew was that I wanted the environment to be lightened up, cheered up, more “friendly”, and also fun and calming at the same time.

Decisions, decisions!

Changing my mind again!

The agonizing finally coalesced into real choices, and those choices turned out to accomplish just what I had intended.

The chosen colors in one kind of light ...

... and in another.

I try not to look at paint color names, so that I am not influenced by them, but "Green Vibe" turned out to be such an appropriate name, after all.

What a world of difference!

Furniture shoved into one end in preparation for floor work

Living room as seen from the kitchen

The hallway got a repainting, too - "Muslin" on the walls (like parts of the living room) and "Iceberg" on the ceiling (same as living room)

Somehow those color changes, the mood alteration, could also affect how one could view the world outside the windows (especially after The Great Autumn Window-Washing Project). With clarity and openness, the windows and the views became more noticeable.

Going Through the Books: weeding out some for donation, deciding what to keep for the living room bookshelf

Moving In

Then there was the moving-back-in of furniture (most of it), using the plan for the new room arrangement.

Another moment-of-truth revealed success. It proved to be open, adaptable, conversational, music-friendly, comfortable, fun, and calm.

For the first time, I played fiddle in the revived space. The acoustics were great. The living room had been made “sound again”.

There is more yet to come – decisions on curtains, rugs, wall hangings, lighting, etc. Each step is crucial and must be well thought-out to keep the intended vibe. But, part of the living room could not be completed until the piano would be moved back in.

The Screened Porch Renovation Project

Activity continued on the screened porch as the Living Room Renovation Project morphed into the Porch Renovation Project, again changing the views.

This time, Richard tore out the old, rotted sills (in there since 1989, when the other two bedrooms and the porch were added) and replaced them with fresh, treated boards.

In the process he had to remove some plywood panels, but soon replaced those with new ones, and added molding along the bottoms of all the walls.

Claus

Silas

We have yet to do the Great Annual Autumn Porch Clean-Up. And, sometime later we will need to repaint the porch. Will I agonize over colors again, or keep the same color? Again, the color will affect the mood, and will also affect the way our eyes move to the scene outside. It will frame the views.

Renogardenvations

Gardens, too, were undergoing renovations. Some were established spaces undergoing restoration or renewal.

Reclaiming the paths in the Herb Garden Transformation Project:

Some were established spaces being converted to new methods or uses.

Richard putting in seedling plants for a fall garden, with late summer's cucumber row nearby

Future garlic/shallot patch (to be planted in late autumn)

Previous strawberry patch growing a cover crop of cowpeas

New strawberry patch beyond the zinnias

Old summer plot to become a fall garden plot 

Start of the fall garden plot

And there were some newly-created spaces awaiting their complete renovation.

Solarizing an area for the future Prairie Plot, near the road. I intend to add sections each year. This section will be planted next spring.

August 24, 2018

August 24, 2018 - as seen from the road - I intend to get the garden certified through various organizations and place signs along the front.

October 12, 2018

Peeking in - it's working!

Meandering, Renovated Thoughts

Some of the definitions of “restoration” include “vigor”, or “to impart new vigor”, or “to restore to life, vigor, or activity”.

So far, I've felt that our renovations have done that. Vigor is a stronger word than others used in the definitions. It denotes an addition of strength. Vigor is the cayenne pepper to the peppermint of “revive” or the lemon balm of “refresh”. It sends jolts of renewal coursing through the veins of a project.

I have felt this happen to myself as my environment has changed. It's similar to the feeling of coming from across a mucky moor and then finding yourself surrounded by lush greenery with a great, roaring waterfall before you. I feel invigorated, enlivened, through the changes we have been creating.

Which brings me to this idea – that we can also renovate our lives. We can change some color, some arrangements, something about the environments we choose to inhabit. We can change the foundations on which we stand. We can pull out the old, rotten stuff and do something good with what lies beneath that. We can open up and change our views. We can be revived and invigorated “as if new again”.

Autumn is really the New Year to me – and so it is time to wash away the accumulation of summer dirt and sweat, and reassess how to move forward.

The home place, before the soybean harvest

Hawthorn tree with berries

This year I have been gradually allowing things to drop away that made me feel too crowded, too busy, even frustrated. I've left off projects and programs that involve planning and preparation on my part, unless they are my very own projects. I still contribute time and energy to some outside projects, ones very meaningful to me, that do not require my own planning and creativity. I want to apply that kind of creativity only to what I have been intending to accomplish myself.

I have been creating more space in my life for my own projects that become increasingly more important to me, and to things (sometimes overlapping the former) that are important to home.

Applesauce

After all, those things tend to have a ripple effect into the greater world, and I need to do them well. More time is needed for quiet nature observation, for study and research, and for writing.

Working on this very blog post while at Art Space Vincennes

More time is needed for home and garden projects, for music, for family and friends, for better health.

I have been needing to replace the things that became stale, or were no longer useful, or were broken, or weren't moving no matter how I pushed, or just made me feel grumpy. I need to replace those with things that invigorate and add new energy to what I really need to be doing.

I need to continue on with learning, and wisdom.

While our ongoing renovations affect the way we feel within them every day, my hope is that they also affect others who come here, both inside and outside the house.

I hope other people, when here, feel a renewal of energy and comfort, and sense more space to change some things and move forward into new adventures. That's how I have felt in my favorite spaces, and I want my home to be the same.