The Fort--One Month In

So the bathroom had just one door with the entry coming in from the bedroom. I didn't think that was necessarily the most practical situation and I'm tearing it all apart anyway so I added a door from the kitchen. I'll be honest, I lost sleep wondering how that was going to work but it had to be done. Let me just say, one of the most taken for granted skills in building a house is framing and hanging doors. This mutha kind of kicked my ass. It doesn't help that the space is limited so there was a lot of rigging things and making it work. You can't just by a pre-hung door.

You get an idea of what the bathroom will look like. I finished the shower enclosure and my vanity came the other day. I'm just waiting for the electrician and I'll be able to start sheeting.

I was also able to start on the bedroom. This is kind of a test-run for what it will look like.Wainscoting was invented just for these kinds of situations where the wall is damaged on the bottom so instead of pulling off all the lath and mortar, you just sheet over it with bead-board or other kinds of panels. It's a pretty clean look and I like the blue. This is a man's fort. It can look classy but it's going to have more masculine colors and I'm going to keep a rustic/farmhouse look.

I was introduced to a concept the other day from a friend called wabi-sabi  and fukinsei. It's a Japanese concept of aesthetics that reflects an acceptance of imperfections. It embraces the idea of imperfection, impermanent and incomplete. Yes, I took that off Wikipedia. I'm learning to embrace this both for the house and myself. It's going to be a journey.

Here's another video, by the way.

https://youtu.be/xMmS7h-QX3s

I'm a month into this project. Just to give you a little break-down, I've spent about $5,200 on materials and $1,800 on contracted labor. I haven't figured out what my time is worth because that's a little arbitrary. I would say I've spent around 180 hours on it so far. I still have to purchase cabinets and counter-tops and sheet-rock and ship-lap for the ceiling so I'm guessing another $8k or so.

I have less than two weeks to move into this place. It won't have a kitchen but I do need a place to sleep and a place to do my business, if you know what I mean. I better get to work.

Keep 'em where they live...