What to do first.

While the previous owners have kept the house in pretty much its original shape, there has not been a lot of updates beyond general maintenance. While we will slowly figure out any changes we will make, there are some obvious changes to the renovated attic that will make the house more livable. When first built, the house was designed to house families who lost their homes during the explosion and this house would have been (2) 3 bedroom flats. With 3 bedrooms, a living room, dining / kitchen and a full bathroom all connected with a rather large hallway in 1200 sf, the rooms are rather small. A stairway to the attic was carved out of closet space when the attic was turned into bedrooms in 1980. The new stairs to the attic is at the far end of the home and is reached by going through a former bedroom. This creates a very awkward shaped second bedroom upstairs. If the stairway was moved to the center of the unit, instead of the end, there could be two nice bedrooms upstairs and the bathroom would not need to be relocated. While Asher is still small, he doesn't mind the weird shaped room so we'll save this change until after the kitchen is renovated.

One of the first things I like to do with an old house is to remove the paint from the door hardware. It is a simple thing to do and I always feel that paint on the hardware not only looks sloppy but I feel that it covers up the history of all of the people who used to live here. The easiest and non toxic way to remove the paint is to take off the hardware and hinges and put them in an old crock pot with some dish soap and water and leave it on overnight. Luckily the previously owners left an old crock pot in the basement. By the next morning, all of the paint just falls off. Then I just rub on some auto wax and oil the hinges and door locks and put them back on. Sure the doors will need to be repainted but they look a lot better already.

The next thing we decided to do was replace the washer and dryer. The ones in the house are not really that old but they are the old top load type which are huge energy and water wasters. Currently they are located on the back stair landing which isn't really a well heated nor insulated space. It was originally designed as a cold space, and while it has a lot of potential to be a nice space, we have to relocate the washer and dryer. The best location for them is in a large closet near the bedrooms in the attic. Fortunately, Home Depot is having a sale on GE units so we ordered a set them. Now, just we just need to renovate the closet, patch the walls, repaint, put in new flooring, bring in electricity, both 220 with 10-3 wire and 120 with 12-2, install a through the roof dryer vent and modify the plumbing. All of this should be easy since the closet backs up to the attic bathroom and actual attic space behind the knee walls where the roof meets the floors. Then we can sell the old washer and dryer and clean up the stair landing.