Friday, June 28, 2013

march of the clawfoots . . .

Tonight we did something that we don't do much of around here, we went out. We socialized with strangers and drank beer for God's sake. What was the occasion that we left our dark hovel you ask? It was for Ron Tanner's (of Houselove.org and From Animal House to Our House) talk at our local reuse store, Construction Junction. While the talk was nothing I hadn't seen and heard before, it was lovely to be out and talk to people for a change, especially since with the storms we have no foundation and still have a tree in the way. Local beer and good cheese soothes the troubled soul . . .

While we wait for the big stuff we're in a bit of a holding pattern. We will have a house full of guests in about a month, and it doesn't look like we'll have the schoolhouse up like we planned, which is hugely disappointing. It also means we won't we able to re-stash everything in it like we had planned, which makes cleaning up "complicated" . . . Although I'm not one to solicit advice, with people commenting regularly (which makes me giddy, so thank you) I'll be brave enough to ask for some tips - how have you managed guests (let alone made them comfortable) in a house that's torn asunder, with all the filth and clutter that goes along with it?

Now that I've begged you for advice, want to see something that two people shouldn't be able to do on their own?

Luke is modeling his top of the line tarp-on-the-roof tin 
protecting the clawfoot dog bed

behold, a tub

these feet were made for walking

we put clawfoot in a corner

We were given this tub shortly after we bought the house, stashed it in that corner, tarped it, and haven't looked at it since. Even worse, that corner has been full of stuff since the day we first looked at the house, stuff that hasn't been touched in 2.5 years. Cleaning it out revealed 3 enormous multi-pane windows, trash, a huge bimini top, trash, a vintage rolling edger, trash, trash and more trash. The windows are awesome though . . .

5 comments:

  1. Our house was not fit to put people up during our remodel so we didn't do it. We had a few visitors for the day and most were understanding of the mess when they saw the state of the house. If having a "cleaned" house is important, you might try a short-term storage unit, but that adds extra expense.

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    1. I love my family dearly, but putting THEM in short term storage may be a perfect solution . . .

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  2. LOL on the picture of the clawfoot marching down the cellar stairs!

    And great that you were able to get over to CJ for the Ron Tanner talk. And do some socializing for a change.

    About houseguests during reno: The people I've had to stay in my construction zone most recently was one whose house is an even worse mess (and she isn't renovating), and another one (from the UK) whom I put to work helping me put up wallpaper. But most of the time we were out seeing the sights around Pittsburgh, so it didn't matter that much.

    My philosophy about guests is make sure they have a clean and comfortable place to a) eat; b) sleep; and c) poop. If any of these places are actually finished, that's optional. :-D

    Kate H.
    www.sowsearhouse.blogspot.com

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    1. Yeah, I think that's what I'm aiming for Kate, with the addition of clear paths to and from a, b and c. I do think we need to work on attracting (bribing?) guests with useful skill sets though!

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  3. First time reading this, thanks for sharing

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