Walls and floors

Before:
After:When we came home from celebrating Thanksgiving we found the workers had been hard at work! They had poured flooring to level things out. They'd also put stucco on all the walls to prepare them for their final coat. As well as built the entry way to our section of the house in order to separate it from the basement that will be used as a guest apartment for interns and other longer term visitors.
Since we first moved in there have been multiple piles of trash we've had to deal with. One by one we've gotten them cleared out. Last week a big truck came and carried away at least 4 if not 5 truck loads of the rubble that has been taken out of the house. Josh says our house went on a diet and is a lot lighter now!

Electricity, E-lec-tricity!

Josh and Zvonko took on the project of electricity and finished up this week! That and the plumbing were kind of our big last projects before we have to just wait for our builder to take over. It was a big job just figuring out where outlets and light switches should go! Never mind all the wiring! We're so grateful to Zvonko and his expertise! This is a shot of Josh in the kitchen with wiring all lined up and ready to go! After they finished our builder Peter came over and told us about just how buried he is with another contract. He said, "The very best thing for you would be if it would just dump rain. Then I'd send all my guys over here and we'd get your place done." Well you know that I just started praying for rain. But it has been the most beautiful weather for this time of year. I mean, it's been down right balmy!
I guess God wanted to bless Peter and us at the same time because Peter has been faithful and last week he started sending workers to get us finished and hopefully in by Christmas!
I read a verse in Hebrews 3 and was so struck by it. It says something to the effect that the builder is more important than the house and God is the builder of everything. I started praying that whatever the Lord would like to stir up in our builders heart that he would use our house to do it because our builder is more important than our house.
We'll keep you posted!

I'm trading my windows!

This week we made some more good progress. Josh and our pastor Zvonko worked on the electricity for the living room and dining room. Zvonko brought a another guy Gregor who worked two days just helping out. And Brad and Hondo came over after school Wednesday and Thursday to take out the old windows before the company came to put in the new ones on friday. It was awfully cold for a couple of nights upstairs since the downstairs was open. And I think the grandma next door was a bit surprised!

The beginning of a kitchen!

When we first looked at this house I thought it was a definate no because of the kitchen. We often have people over for dinner, host guests, have staff meetings in addition to the fact that there are 6 of us. So many times we are gathered around the table. The kitchen in this place was a tiny little galley sort with almost no room for a table that opened into a living room. It was the right idea but just didn't quite meet our needs. But Josh started working on a plan. If he closed off the former kitchen and turned it into a laundry/storage room, then turned the living room into the kitchen/dining room and then opened up two bedrooms into the living room. All of a sudden the main floor became our living space with all the bedrooms upstairs! So last month while Brandon was here they started work on getting rid of the old wall that stuck out into the kitchen too far and getting rid of the walls dividing up our new living room.
Today the workers are putting in support beams to hold the ceiling up and a couple of days ago Josh and Johnny built the wall between the kitchen and laundry room! Yeah! I am celebrating the way the Lord has gifted them with craftsmen abilities! Josh pointed out that was the first day that we started putting something into that middle floor rather than just taking out! That's a step in the right direction!
This will now be the laundry room. So next week we're looking forward to a visit from the plumber and our pastor turned electrician! The picture below is the kitchen and that wall will hold cabinets and the refrigerator. Right now it looks kind of like a garage! Gotta love concrete houses!

Brandon at work

I put some of these shots on Facebook but just have to blog about them. I would say that we had sort of stalled on the house project for awhile. Our builder was tied up with some other projects. We really are glad because Josh has been praying that the Lord would bless him with good opportunities. But we were waiting for help and Josh was stuck on a few things that he was wondering how to handle. Brandon came along and really jump started us back into motion. You can see here how the living room is opening up nicely from what used to be a bedroom and a bathroom.
The former kitchen was just not workable for our family of 6 and all the hosting we do. So this wall had to come down to make way for a larger kitchen. Ultimately the former kitchen becomes my laundry room and the former living room becomes our kitchen and dining room.
Through out this process Josh has really been asking the Lord to give him wisdom. Even in the demolition phase! Sometimes it's come from good ol' Josh Patty know how, other times from how to videos on YouTube, as well as just God's goodness! One was this floor.
The floor isn't even all around the house. So Josh had been puzzeling over which floors to get rid of or should we lower or higher different rooms. Josh had really asked God to lead him in this decision. As it turns out the bathroom and hall floors were made of lower quality concrete so they took those out. When they did that they also found that they were not insulated. But the floors they'd left were! We are so grateful that the Lord really is our project manager in this!

Getting to Work

Our friend Brandon bought tickets back in the spring to come and help with the house. We weren't sure where we'd be at in the process but the Lord did! Brandon showed up at just the right time for demolition of the middle floor. Brandon came and worked every day from 9 to 5 and he worked hard! First he started with the wood paneled ceiling in the room we're turning into the kitchen. Luke kept saying, "Dis room is upside down!" Because the ceiling looked like a floor. Just to avoid any confusion, Brandon also ripped out the floor in that room!
The next day I left while Josh and Brandon were working on the bathroom on that floor. It was such an icky room. Every time Josh wanted me to go in there and visualize the new floor plan I found myself holding my breath and not really listening....just waiting until he'd let me leave! But Brandon got right in there and took out the toilet (yuck) the bidet (also yuck) and all the other bathroom appliances because this room will one day be a part of the living room.
When I came home from running the kids around to all their different things I couldn't believe the change! The guys had taken out the wall and were working on the tile! I could finally see what Josh had been talking about! Ok. And here's just a little something extra for all those inquiring minds. The bathroom for this floor will just be a little toilet bathroom. It's going to be small as it will be located where there used to be a little supply closet. Also, don't you think there is something wrong with the fact that the previous owner had used the same tile for the kitchen as he did for the bathroom?

Terry's back in town

Josh and Terry have been friends since college. So it was no surprise when they jumped at the chance to work together with JV in Slovenia. Well, when we were getting into the new house just a few days before Jacksons were headed to the states for the summer they expressed sadness at not getting to be a part of the renovation. So we decided to hold things off and wait for them. Ha ha! Terry came over the other day an pulled out the cabinets that the old owner left in what we want to turn into our kitchen. After that, he and Josh moved them into the storage room that we are using as a kitchen right now. Now we have boxes sitting on shelves down there and the room for the kitchen is cleared a little bit.
I have to find my "before" shot of this room. It was filled with dark cabinets. Now it's filled with spider webs! ick! Every little bit that we do ourselves (or our friends do for us!)saves some money and also makes us feel like we're getting closer to not living exclusively in our bedrooms. Next Josh hopes to tear out the wood paneling on the ceiling. Bad news is there was never a real ceiling so there's another thing we weren't planning on. But the good news is that we never liked how low the ceiling came down and it looks like we'll be able to have a higher ceiling once we pull down the wood paneling!
Thanks Terry! Not just for the help but for being the kind of friend who has always been standing right next to Josh and ready to do what needs doin'!