Apartment Renovation and associated mayhem

We started renovating the apartment in the icehouse in August 2007. The existing space wasn't in too bad condition, but we decided to go all out and strip it down and rebuild it. I think it turned out to be the right decision, especially considering how much debris we extracted. The room was originally the employee break room, and as such it had some residential features and so was a natural place to begin the entire project. A few decades ago it was converted into a real apartment where people lived, so it did have a kitchen and bathroom.

Here is the old living room. Wonderful linoleum with newspaper backing, luan (sp?) walls, drop ceilings, cheap windows, small closed in rooms, disgusting wallpaper, and an electrical/plumbing layout that almost made me cry...

Oh the horror, the absolute horror of this wallpaper! I probably shouldn't mention the dead mouse behind the stove...

This is where we moved into for our temporary lodgings. It is the bottom floor of the tower (now known as the guest dungeon) with 24" thick masonry walls. Living here was great, except the bathroom was at the other side of the house. Now that we have the nearby bathroom working well, this has become our guest room and includes a sofa, chair, TV, and A/C unit.

Ah, the first cut!

Work begins on refurbishing the old apartment. We ripped all the old wall panels down, cleared the floor off, cut down all the interior walls, and removed all mechanical components. That part was fun, except for the decades worth of dust and debris that would fall down in your face every time you touched something. Respirators were worth their weight in gold in this phase.

After everything was stripped down to original surfaces, we began building back up. Starting with many layers of paint to seal out the nastiness that once was. I think we have about 6 layers of paint and primer now, it's glorious. A spray gun is definitely the best way to paint brick, I recommend you purchase a good one because it cuts your time to 1/10 of hand painting.

Here is Heather balancing on top of the ladder and painting our ceiling beams. We used a primer that would convert some of the existing rust into an inert compound, but otherwise just treated it like a normal surface. The beams looks great and add a lot of detail to the room now, and are great for hanging things from.

Speaking of paint guns, our little handheld was barely adequate for the walls. When it came to painting overhead it didn't even work because of the paint feed system. We bought a contractor version with a separate pump and gun and life got much easier. You just stick the feed hose into the bucket of paint and spray like crazy. It was one of the most satisfying experiences of the project. Do yourself a favor and get the right tools for the job.

You might notice that nobody ever took a photo of me working on anything. Part of that is because around this time I managed to seriously wound myself. I fell off our loading dock onto a broken ceramic toilet and cut my left arm open. Miraculously I didn't cut an artery, vein, or large nerve, but everything else was severed. Try this if you aren't squeamish: ArmDamage.jpg All of my extensor tendons had to be re-connected and many weeks of therapy followed before I was able to use it again. I still remember the first day I could hold a beer in my hand, it was glorious.

In the meantime, I called on all my friends and coworkers for help. The winter was rapidly approaching and we had nowhere to stay warm. Luckily, we received a great response from everyone and after a few work weekends the apartment project was substantially complete. Thanks to all who pitched in, your assistance was truly noble.

Heather's boss helped to re-plumb the hot water heater and install a filter. We still don't drink the water but the filter does improve the water quality.

My friends David and Matt helped me run conduit for the main bedroom. Everything works great, so thanks for the help once more, guys!

My friend Tom with the big drill, helping me run conduit for later work. I am just about to start major work in this area, so hopefully we can double our finished living space within the next few months.

The old sink base was custom built in the apartment because the room's door is too small to pass it through. We decided to keep it, which meant that when it was time to do the floors we had to levitate from the ceiling. Just another one of those wacky things you gotta do to get the job done.

Once the floor was finished, it was just a simple matter of putting the furniture back into the room, all by way of this beautifully preserved industrial ship's ladder. No railing, no problem. honestly, the railing would have prevented us getting any furniture into the space because you the stairs are too narrow. Now that we've moved in we did install a chain railing, and that adds a level of psychological comfort that is hard to underestimate.

The final result is absolutely great. We repurposed a lot of our old furniture and things we found, and it all came together beautifully. The choice to use only black and white furniture and paint really makes our artwork pop out from the walls, it is quite nice.

The open shelving for the pantry makes it seem a bit messy at times, but convenient. Having the open space in general makes the apartment feel bigger, and the dogs get to run around and bark all they want.

As the final missing piece, we found two cats that match the decor. Here's Charlie doing what she loves best, fantasizing about a fresh meal. We often had a wet cat until we unpacked the aquarium hood. But all is well now and everyone gets along very well in our small space.

So that was our first renovation project, and we finished it around January of 2008 after all was said and done. We have been waiting to start work on other parts of the property while we worked out financing options and got our plans fully worked out. If you know how hard it is to get a loan in this market, imagine what it's like to get one for a project that doesn't resemble anything else in town. But of course, that is a post for another day. Thanks once again to all who helped us on the apartment renovation.