Hick House Upstairs: Sunroom 05-28-19

Because you've all been really good, I am going to reward you with another glimpse of Hick House. There hasn't been much to report, what with the tedious things like wiring and plumbing and sweeping and drywall-ceiling-ing and painting. There are some visible changes, but not quite move-in ready changes.

Today we'll look at the upstairs room at the front of the house, with the window looking out over the porch to the street. HOS (Hick's Oldest Son) has been working on the upstairs, tearing out wallpaper and painting. Hick bought a 5-gallon bucket of paint a few days ago, for $30. As you might imagine, it's not the best of paint, but will allow more coats over what HOS has done.

The light bulb is over the stairs. That's the entry to the upstairs.

On the other side of that partition where the stairs come up, Hick built a toy box.

Mrs. HOS will do the painting of the toy box. She wants it to be gray, to contrast with all the white. The boards on the front came from the basement. The lid was part of somewhere HOS trimmed, and Hick told him to save it. There's a wire handle to open the top, if you look close enough, next to the drill with orange parts. Right now, Hick's toys are in the way! That door to the left goes into the "Fleetwood Mac" bedroom (that was the poster on the wall when we took possession). It will be the bedroom of HOSS (Hick's Oldest Son's Son), who is 10.

At the other end of the sunroom, Hick put up some shiny board. He calls it marker board, because you can write on it with dry-erase markers. Good for a kids' playroom. 

Of course he just put it up and took the picture. Still needs to trim around the top and bottom. The baseboard heater needs some cleaning up from HOS's overzealous spray-painting. It ain't quite beautiful, but when you remember what it looked like after forking over the $5000 for the house, it'll do.

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UPDATE
Hick finished the trim on the marker board.

That baseboard heater cleanup is still HOS's project, though!

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Let the record show that Hick House has always been about making a safe, livable house that will pass city inspection. Nothing fancy. Just a home without a payment, to improve as HOS is able. I think it's coming along splendidly with that qualifier.

Let's not forget how this sunroom looked during the first walk-through:

There are the stairs and toy box area. The closet was torn out.

This was also the sunroom, looking at the wall with doors to the two bedrooms. That messed-up wall is now the marker board wall. The walls and ceiling have been stripped down to the boards, and are awaiting more paint.

Hick ran out of his renovation money on Monday, and in fact has already gone over by $40 for smoke detectors, which he installed yesterday. He says this linoleum floor in the sunroom is usable, and only needs a good sweeping and mopping. He has also scored two rooms of carpet (with pad) from backcreek neighbor Bev, who is having hers removed next week to install new carpet. This will be put in the other bedroom, with some left over for HOSS's room, which also has a usable floor. Hick was given a rug by a buddy at his Storage Unit Store, he bought another at the auction for $20, and Mrs. HOS got one for free at a yard sale. They currently solve the flooring needs of the living room.

Hick is saving the rest of the plumbing for last. Says it can be done in 4 hours, a day at max. HOS dug up the front sidewalk with the tractor, against Hick's wishes, and instead of capping the concrete where it was damaged, with about 4 bags... Hick now has a hole to fill that will take 16 bags, and require forms. The master bedroom has the drywall halfway done on the ceiling. That's about all that remains, other than cosmetic last-minute touches.

Yes, progress is being made. Hopefully, next week Hick House will be ready for the inspector.