Let The House Renovation Begin

It's been a long, long time since I've posted on this blog.  Needless to say, "Jen's Adventures" was foreshadowing for the way life would turn from January 2011 to now.  It's been a learning experience and the summary is:  

  • I finally have a published book with name as a (co-) author.
  • It brought me back home to be with family and old friends.
  • It allowed me to lead a development and renovation of a heritage museum in my hometown.
  • It allowed me to establish a couple downtown events.
  • I was able to purchase and renovate (ongoing) a building next to the museum that I hope to turn into a bakery.
  • I have a vacation home rental property in Nashville now; again, long story, but it's a house I renovated.
  • And in addition to some career shifts, I just recently bought a 1921 house in my hometown of Carterville, Illinois.  So recent that I just closed on the house a week ago - Oct. 12th.

So, from here, I'll be blogging mostly on "the dig" as you might say; renovating this small gem of a house and the adventures that come my way.

One of the first tasks to complete is to remove the chimney from throughout the house.  I thought I could handle the inside, but was going to let a contractor handle starting it on the roof and patching the roof properly.

When rain and unfinished work postponed the contractor, I decided on the day after I bought the house to get started on this project and if I could get the chimney down for them, I would save some cash.

The extension ladder appeared long enough on the way up.  Soon, it would not as I hurried to get down.  After crawling to the top of the house and right before taking a slam at the chimney, wasps flew out of the chimney and towards me.  Somehow, I managed to stay calm and after thanking Jesus out loud a few times, I made it down the ladder safely.

From that adventure, I decided to do something calm like the removal of the boards surrounding the chimney in the living room.  I guess in 1921 and beyond, they did what they had to do, so a house had to have a chimney from the furnace for heat, and if it came right through the living room wall, you do a "when life gives you lemons" deal and surround it with shelves in the shape of a Christmas tree.

You'll note the tree-like shelves to the right of the photo below.  You'll also note a lovely ceiling fan that I couldn't wait to take down, especially because no one could ever find a switch for this light.  It came on when I actually put bulbs in it that worked, and it stayed on for two days until I finally flipped the breaker.

I took it down and put it in the stack for the local 

thrift store, and replaced it with a porcelain fixture with chain while this room is under construction.

Ta-da.  I would have taken a photo with the light on, but it doesn't translate, so just trust me, it works.

A lot more happened last week, but you'll have to give me a bit to catch up.  Stay tuned for another post when I'm not about to fall asleep.

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