Remodeling Achievements...
My nephew-in-law, Kean, and I started remodeling our Alaska
home at the end of May, 2014. We
tore out walls, lots of sheetrock, and totally gutted the kitchen.
We knew from the time we started it was going to be a
monumental undertaking. We were able to put in about two weeks time before I
was scheduled to fly back home. It all sounded good.
Hey, they remodel homes in an hour on HGTV every day.
The plan was…we would pick up our stuff on Cherokee Rd. Sign the papers on our house, and be
eating steak with Kean and Rylee in Alaska on the 4th of July. Then with a couple more weeks worth of
work, we would be ready to move into the "new" home well before Shawna had to start
work at her counseling job in Glennallen.
As is well chronicled in Shawna’s earlier posts, the move
was much more epic than anticipated, but God was in constant control. Eventually, it
worked out and we were breaking into our “new” home late one night in the
latter half of July.
I knew from
the moment Shawna stepped through the window into our front room, (by the look
on her face and the not-so-kind words coming out of her mouth)that I had been
looking at the house through rose colored glasses.
Our earlier thoughts were... get to Alaska, work on the house, and spend a day here and there fishing or gold panning or exploring. The midnight stop at the house changed
everything. Basically, besides a
couple of partial days to clean salmon, I rolled up my sleeves and did not come
out for about 2 months.
As we were rolling through September, Kean stopped by after
work one evening to check out my progress. We were out in the yard talking when he said, “You might
have a week, you might have a month, but once the snow starts falling you won’t
see anything laying in your yard for the next seven months.” The yard was full of stuff the former
tenants left, my stuff, and deconstruction piles. Coming from Kansas, I hadn’t given any thought to the fact
that snow doesn’t melt up here until spring. Oh Brother!
By the end of September, the snow was falling.
The kitchen and downstairs bathroom were
operable. All the 1950’s wiring and plumbing had been replaced and the water tank had been
installed in the crawl space. The worst windows had been torn out, boxed in and
replaced, and the new wood stove was heating the house.
We were ready to move in. However,
summer was over. Shawna and I hadn’t taken the time to have fun.
The next big thing was getting a spare bedroom ready. My mother-in-law, Janet, was flying up
to spend a few days and we needed that room. Sheetrock work, wiring, and paint
and the job was done. I was on to
the next project.
It was finally during this time that I decided to start
looking through my boxes and doing a few things to would make
life more enjoyable. Plus, I decided to start reading again. Reading really helped occupy my mind
and help me get through some of the loneliness I was experiencing.
Over Thanksgiving, my brother and sister-in-law came up for
a few days. He is not able to be
still, so we launched a couple of new projects. We started remodeling the master bathroom and my man-cave-corner-gun-reloading
workspace. We got a good start,
and then I finished up the bathroom and refinishing the walls and floors after
he left.
By the end of December, we were ready to fly home and see
friends and family. It was a great
trip, but my mind was often on my home in Alaska and tasks that I was ready to
have completed. The trip left
little doubt in my mind, we were in the right place.
January was filled with little jobs and babysitting. Kean and Rylee’s baby sitter got a new
job and I had to fill in some gaps here and there to get them through until the
birth of their fourth child and maternity leave.
By the end of January, I could no longer avoid the one task I
had been putting off for months… refinishing the oak living room floor. It is just not feasible to rent a big
floor sander in Anchorage, so I had to figure out how to do the job with
smaller sanders and minimal mess.
I divided the floor into two sections, then moved the furniture to the
smaller section.
Next, I built a large plastic tent to contain the dust and
started sanding with a nice belt sander my landlord found at a garage sale. The sanding was difficult because the bottom of the belt
sander was worn out and it didn’t want to sand evenly. Eventually it bit the
dust, and I had to get online and purchase parts. I was able to finish the job
with a sander attachment for my hand drill and a small orbital sander, which
made the final work much better.
The finished result of the first part of the floor was so
exciting, I immediately launched into the second part.
With the new parts on the sander, I was
able to get much more pleasing results in much less time.
My next job is finishing the second
guest bedroom and
putting some built-in shelves and counter space in our work areas upstairs. As
the weather warms, we will work on the greenhouse room and eventually paint the
exterior of the house.
We are excited for visitors in the spring, so we can share
our little piece of Alaska.
P.S. I know
many people are wanting to hear about Shawna’s experiences. However, between work and the college
classes she must take for her Alaska teaching certificate, she is very busy. Until her life slows down, I hope you
can enjoy my occasional ramblings.
