Building Bensonhurst: demolition days

So we basically spent every minute of last week doing demolition- or as I like to refer to it.. hard labor. Only taking breaks to eat, sleep and make Home Depot runs. Ben had a blast- he started off the week with a chainsaw, cutting his way through the overgrown yard. I, on the other hand, was introduced to the house with a bottle of bleach and some scrub gloves.. not so much fun. In six days we made our way through much of the yard work, were able to strip wallpaper in most of the rooms (there were a few bumps along the way), we filled a dumpster, met with a contractor about the kitchen, a plumber, a wood floor finisher and had our new washer and dryer delivered (hooray!).

Feeling a little overwhelmed at first, I started keeping track of our progress by writing down what we did every day. Most days looked something like this:

Henry is having a hard time adjusting- turns out he only likes being outside if we are constantly by his side. He hasn't really taken to it like we had hoped, but I guess it's still early. He did discover digging holes- something normal suburban dachshunds do from early on but with our lack of yard space in Manhattan his digging instincts were a little delayed.. I guess that's a mothers way of saying he's a slow learner. We took lots of pictures of his bottom in the air..

we were quite proud, though I'm sure we won't be when our yard begins to resemble a slice of swiss cheese.

And as I had mentioned in my brief post last week all of our neighbors were incredibly welcoming. Everyone seemed thrilled that we'd taken on this project, as the house has been vacant for so long- and the truth of the matter is, it was quite an eyesore and it still is.. I'm not going to pretend we did THAT much over those six days, but even the little that we did do has already made a huge difference.

In an effort to give you a little taste of how we spent our week I'll post some projects we started to conquer (or at least tried to) over the next week or so- providing you with "before" and "after before" pictures. I'm referring to them as "after before" shots because the true before and after pictures are months, if not years, away and believe me, none of what I'm going to show you is the final product, Ben and I are way to invested to settle.. so keep that in mind.

In the meantime, I'll start out this week with a little bit about our living conditions.. remember we were there almost an entire week. And just a little bit of info for those of you who don't know me.. I don't really know how to "rough it" if you know what I mean.

The Floors

"before" floors

I opted to just cover the floors with paper. For the most part they were covered with old vinyl tile.. what were they thinking?!?! there are beautiful hardwood floors underneath!! After years of use (and then non-use), the tile was filthy and just not anything that could be cleaned. A mop seemed to just move around the dirt and I just didn't have the time or the energy to work on them. I also knew the floors were being redone this week and didn't want to spend my week cleaning something that was being replaced just days later.

The Bathing Quarters

"before" bathroom

OK, I'll admit it.. I got a little carried away with contact paper. But I'm sorry there's nothing grosser than cleaning/using an old, dirty bathroom. I tried to make it as sanitary as possible, but cleaning has never been my forte, so I discovered early on, that the easiest way to make an old surface clean was by covering it.. so I did a lot of that..

I lined the medicine cabinet..

the linen closet..

I even covered the floor..

Obviously we're planning on replacing everything- the tiles have been ordered and I'm shopping for bath fixtures this week.. but at least we now have a somewhat clean bathroom and hot water- we were without for a couple of days.. gotta love cold sponge baths!

The Eating Quarters
This was a little tricky since we didn't acquire any appliances with the purchase of the house. My mom helped by bringing up a mini refrigerator and a toaster and we also have a grill, but we basically decided day 1 that we would spend most meals out. But that didn't mean we could be without a "kitchen" for a whole week.. we still needed a place to keep drinks, feed the dog- but most importantly we needed a place that would be safe enough for him to stay while we were working on the rest of the house.

Henry hanging out.. waiting for us to finish the days work.. and no, he isn't an Eagles fan- he prefers the Patriots these days

Once the vinyl floor was pulled up (more on floor removal in future posts), I lined the floor with paper..

and covered what cabinets (and work surfaces) I could with- you guessed it, contact paper..

Little side note: notice the candle hanging out by the sink? I literally didn't go a day without lighting at least 6 of those babies throughout the house.. it's going to take a lot to get the musty smell out of there- opening windows helped, but there's still a ways to go.

We were able to find a cute orange desk at Walmart on clearance that serves as our temporary dining table- just love how it works with the white Target folding chairs..

Ben and Henry enjoying a breakfast of toast with Dunkin Donuts.. no coffee maker in this house!

Just fyi, we really don't normally eat breakfast with Henry like this. We just thought it was funny that he was trying to join us and took advantage of this picture perfect moment.

The Sleeping Quarters
With wallpaper in both of the bedrooms, we knew we'd have to be flexible and move around as we made progress on the house. As the nights went on we kind of figured out what was comfortable for us (and Henry too!) but the idea was the same.. air mattress, old sheets and eventually a stiff neck..

night 1