Oliver on the new cherry wood stairs.

Although we’ve made progress on the house, I still see all the things that we need to fix or all the things I’d like to change. So, I think now is a good time to take a look back and focus on just how far we’ve come in the past year and three months.

We began landscaping.

We have started the restoration of our front porch. We hired someone to rebuild the brick piers that support the wood columns holding up the roof. We removed a roof covering the pergola on the north end of the porch. We plan to grow vines over this. The failing cement steps were replaced with steps made from redwood. The 4″ thick layer of cement covering the porch floor was removed. Low walls built around the porch were removed and the original porch railing was restored.

The dining room was completely restored. See pictures.

We had a new roof put on. The dormers were stripped of their asbestos shingles. The original wood shingles couldn’t be saved so we had the dormers re-shingled.

The restoration of our living room has begun.

We are still trying to select a paint color for the exterior. Any suggestions?

Installed central heat.

Added some more electrical outlets to the upstairs bedroom which we plan on using as an office.

Had a carpenter replace the old plywood stairs leading to the top floor with nice steps made from cherry wood that was generously donated by my dad.

Before we moved into the house:

Replaced the foundation. Bolted for earthquake safety.

Connected to the city sewer line. Our sewer line was illegally tapping into our neighbor’s sewer line.

Had the wood floors refinished.

Kitchen floor: Pulled up press on vinyl tiles that covered plywood which was nailed and screwed into the floor. The floor is uneven so the previous owner had poured plaster into the lower areas to level the floor. All the plaster had to be carefully hammered out.

Upstairs bathroom floor: Pulled up layers of old linoleum. This was a horrible job. Removed the black tar-like backing that was stuck to the floor after the linoleum was taken out.

 Removed various cabinets from the upstairs bath and kitchen.

 Painted the two upstairs bedrooms.

I guess we have accomplished a lot but we still have such a long way to go…sigh.