If Things Can Go Wrong, They Will: Our Cottage Renovation

What the fuss is all about.

What the fuss is all about. The house looks large from the road, but when our son’s dog visits, Seamus can knock us out of any room in the house with one cheerful sweep of his tail.

I’ve promised frequent updates on the renovation of our Victorian era cottage in Chautauqua, New York, and judging from the response to my last newsletter, you’re interested.

Unfortunately there hasn’t been much to tell. Our contractor has been hard at work on another house, but there’s been a much more interesting delay.

Chautauqua County has a rule that we must have permission from our neighbors if  the crew needs to step into their yard.

No, I’m not kidding.

Since houses at Chautauqua Institution are close together, it’s essential to get that permission.  The problem, though, was that we have never met this particular neighbor, who uses his house as a rental property.  So tracking him down wasn’t easy, but worse than that, there was a huge misunderstanding.

It seems the owner believed he had met us, that he had made an important suggestion and he was being ignored.  Turns out the suggestion was made to another couple who made an offer on the property before we did.  Our neighbor never learned someone else had bought it (us) and was unhappy we hadn’t followed through on his offer.  Once that was cleared up, he kindly gave our workers permission to stick their little tootsies on his land to do the work on ours.  Problem solved.

However, that negotiation took months.  Yep.  Months.

Welcome to the world of home renovation.

So while there’s not much to show, here’s a little.  Hopefully there will be lots to come.  Someday.

Minus the old wallboard, here's the interior wall.  Think it needs replacing?

Minus the old wallboard, here’s the interior wall. Think it needs replacing?

 

We got good news and bad news.  The new sewer line we decided to add could connect to one in the street.  Saved us money.  Unfortunately the sewer and water lines had been laid in the same trench years ago, a no no.  Needed new water line and new ditch for it.  Upshot?  We saved no money.

We got good news and bad news. The new sewer line we decided to add could connect to one in the street. Saved us money. Unfortunately the sewer and water lines had been laid in the same trench years ago, a no no. Needed new water line and new ditch for it. Upshot? We saved no money.

 

We're adding two bathrooms, one on top of the other.  Can we fit a bathroom and a closet into this space?  Darn tootin'.

We’re adding two bathrooms, one on top of the other. Can we fit a bathroom and a closet into this space? Darn tootin’.

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment.  Whenever one appears.  Just don’t hold your breath.

4 Comments

  1. Renie in MN. on January 16, 2013 at 8:47 pm

    It is going to be lovely when you’re done!! Exciting for you! Hopefully, not too many flies in the ointment 🙂 (what an odd expression)….Good Luck!

  2. Dianne DeLay on January 16, 2013 at 10:06 pm

    We redid our house 3 years ago. Lots of problems, but in the end all good!

  3. Lorraine Thacker on January 18, 2013 at 8:04 am

    You never know what you will find when you open up old walls, do you? Excited for you that they are finally able to move forward!

    • Emilie Richards on January 18, 2013 at 8:48 am

      I’m glad we’re not living on site. That way it’s easy to see when nothing’s getting done. I think we’re going to love the results when we get them.

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