that's not an October temperature - #8
A chill is in the air and inside the house.
Guess what the low is next week? I’ll give you a hint: it’s one less than an unlucky number and one more than the main character in Stranger Things.
Which means things need to start happening. We’re doing a good ole-fashioned house update this week because when this email deploys, I’ll be mountain biking in Utah.
Screen porch: we were going to add corrugated metal sheeting on the outside, but we’ve had a little change of plan. Our neighbors have all been ordering their wood piles for the winter, and those piles range from the size of a minivan to the size of a $200,000 RV. That’s a lot of wood. And what it told us is: we need more wood. So, instead of corrugating the outside of the porch, we’re actually going to extend from the exterior wall of the porch and create a mini-attached shed that runs the length of the porch, about 15 feet. Then, that will be roofed with sloping corrugated metal. And then we will fill our funny attached tiny shed with wood. We still need to shiplap the inside, add a mixture of wood shreds and mortar to the gaps in the framing, and finally stain the wood to match the house.
Look, it’ll make sense when you see it.
Kitchen: install the new appliances, put legs and doors on the pantry and move it into place, install new light fixtures. After four months, our fridge finally arrived, and next week, we’re expecting the dishwasher, clothes washer, dryer, and cooktop. As I write this, I can hear Ben and his dad navigating how exactly to get the old fridge into the basement, where it will live out its days. We’re going to be people with two refrigerators and I can’t tell you how plump that makes my prepper heart.
Kitchen Adjacent: we have to figure out where our drop zone is. The concrete counter bar is a stunning piece of DIY glory. Unfortunately, it’s also a magnet for bills, to-do lists, books, packages, etc. I am unsettled and unnerved by a counter covered in life debris. Like most diligent procrastinators, and especially when procrastinating writing, I can’t have nonsense lying around. I can see it in my periphery, taunting me. Look, Kelton, a small task easily taken care of that you could do instead of writing. Don’t you want to spend a few minutes trying to decide where this notebook goes? This REI coupon has a slim window… are you in it? Don’t you want to open this envelope?
No. I don’t. But I do.
Great room: another light fixture. A big one. And move the printer upstairs because why is it down here. Ben told me this past week he hasn’t read my newsletter, so I’ll tell you why it’s down here: because Ben set it up in our living room, and I am near certain he would herald that as convenient.
We didn’t move to the middle of nowhere for convenience. That printer is going upstairs in the dead of night, and there it shall remain.
Loft: Hah! Hahahah. Whatever, we’ll get to it eventually. Right now it’s just a desk, another desk, another desk, and an Aerogarden. Good luck to us.
Bedrooms: The second bedroom needs a little rearrange, but overall, it’s fine. What our bedroom needs is either a) being delivered in January, or b) I can’t find it. Can you find a small, corner-shaped, rattan vanity? CAN YOU?
Basement: well, we’re not off to a great start. Ben texted me a photo of an interior door for sale at Home Depot, saying it was the best they had. It is not a bad door. But part of the door’s detailing on its face is an arched curve, reminiscent of a french country style door, like this. There comes a point in home renovation where you’re like, “ah right, I am not rich,” and you just have to buy the doors that are for sale at your local Home Depot, and this makes me want to claw my eyes out. I’m going to hate this door until there’s a functional reason we have to replace it which means forever. Every time I walk by this door, I’m going to side eye it like it embarrassed me in public on purpose.
Anyway, he bought the door because we’re doing the work to close off the west side of the basement/garage and turn it into a guest suite for family and friends. (Short-term rentals are forbidden in the town… not that the region needs any more of them. They are a significant contributor to the housing crisis driving businesses to close because the people who would presumably work at them can’t afford to live here.)
There is a lot to do to make the downstairs into a functioning guest suite: close off the opening to the garage with a new wall, insulate and drywall the ceiling, put in light fixtures (right now it’s just bulbs hanging, or rather dangling, down between rafters, with cardboard stuffed between those rafters), seal off the gap to the staircase, cover the cinder block fireplace base with something more attractive than cinder block, put a door on it. This is what we’ll probably do within the year (and ya know, furnish it.) Next five years, though? Reconfigure the entire backside of the basement so it’s not a windowless death room that leads to a full bath, install a wood-burning stove where one used to be (need to figure out why this was a used to be which sounds like the moment on an HGTV show where the host is like, “I gotta call the homeowners, and they’re not gonna be happy.”), install a kitchenette, and replace all exterior windows and doors on the basement level.
We WaNtEd tO bUy A hOusE.
Anyway, very happy to be here. I’ll be staining the wood on the porch and painting the basement stairs soon. Just need a sunny day for the first and a very bad day for the latter. Conveniently there are 240 or so sunny days a year here, so the staining will get done. And maybe we won’t call this exactly convenient, but it’s meant to snow a foot on Wednesday. So perhaps that’s a “paint the stairs” day. Though, more likely, it will be a make cocoa and play Michael Buble’s Christmas album and make snowballs day.
All in the name of making a home a home, no?
Notes regarding this week:
This ceiling mount light from World Market is stunning. We have it in our guest room and I envy the guests.
The MYSA Natural Wine Club. God this wine is good.
What does a girl need to do to be a FARM Rio ambassador? I’m going to be wearing this jacket ‘til the end of time.
Your suggestions:
I need your help with winter gear. Looking for your favorite snowshoes, backcountry skis, ski boots, baselayers, etc. We need stuff.
And be prepared for a photo dump over on Shangrilogs coming up. As we finalize some things, the house is coming to life.
Follow our journey of high-altitude relocation and renovation at @shangrilogs.