Stucco

Apologies for the delay in posting. We pulled two very long days last weekend and I never got a chance to post on Sunday. We are trying to get the walls all prepped and ready for drywall and skim coating of plaster. We'll be back at it this weekend as the plaster/drywall guy starts on Monday. That will make a HUGE difference.

The stucco work was started and completed last week.

Monday they delivered materials.


Tuesday they pulled down all the old plaster and nailed up a metal mesh.




Wednesday they skimmed on a first layer of concrete




Thursday they did another layer.



Friday they did the texture and packed up all their stuff and went home.



Insulation update: Our wonderful contractor, Tommy, found someone to come blow the insulation in and take the huge green machine back to Lowes. What a relief that was. Penny spent much of Saturday insulating the soon to be master bath using the blue fluffy stuff.


We spent the weekend trying to get the last of the wallpaper down in the stairwell and get the walls cleaned.



We will spend this weekend washing walls and getting all the little bits of wallpaper off. The plaster/drywall guy thinks he can do most all of it in a week. That may or may not include skim coating the ceilings. I hope we can get at least the downstairs ceilings done. With walls in and skimmed, I can start priming. Once primer is on, the floors can be done and then we can move in! Oh, I'm so hoping we can make the November 1 date. I am so ready to have something of a "real" home. Well, as much as we can get for now.

We got the quote on tiling the master bath and that is going to simply have to wait until we get the tax check in February. We should be able to get the downstairs bath in however. That will give us a bath and a half, most importantly, it will give us two toilets.

Demo Continues

Good Monday Morning.

The demolition continued throughout the weekend and I'm quite proud of our progress. Penny and I got most of the paneling throughout the house down and out. We also got the dining room and foyer carpeting out. Penny pulled up the flooring in the vestibule to reveal rotted/termite damaged floor boards. With some help from my friend Jamie, I got all the wall paper down in the dining room, all four layers of it. I still need to wash off the glue, but overall, the plaster in that room is in very good condition.

Some discoveries we have made:

1. Found the original kitchen doorway.
2. Discovered the reason why the previous owner would not allow us to do an invasive inspection in the foyer/vestibule. There's no plaster left in that wall at all. It also looks like a combination of water and termite damage. Some of the vertical beams will have to be replaced. But the good news is that the horizontal beam seems to be quite sound.
3. Despite the torrential rain last night, no leaks have been found in the house this morning.
4. Other than the vestibule, the floors seems to be in pretty good condition. We just have thousands of staples to pull.
5. Moldings in the foyer are plaster, as are the corbels under the arch. Neato!

Vestibule Demo


Vestibule floor


Dining Room Sans Wallpaper


Original Kitchen Doorway


Hot and Sweaty Penny


Hardwood Floors

What is a "Domus Aurea" and why have you called your house renovation blog after it?

Domus Aurea is a reference to Nero's grand villa he built at public expense in downtown Rome after he annexed the burned out city center. The decor relied heavily on gold leaf, hence the name. The ceilings were studded with precious and semi-precious stones. The walls were covered in ivory or frescoes. There was a large man-made lake and fountains flowing in and around it. It had nearly 300 rooms, but what their exact use was remains a mystery. It was rumored that Nero was running a brothel out of the place to help finance it, but this is rumor and not supported by historical documents.

Nero believed himself to be quite the actor and athlete. He was also something of a brute, committing fratricide, matricide, and spouse-icide. He participated in the Olympic Games as a charioteer and nearly managed to kill himself in an accident. The judges awarded him first place anyway. Just before he committed suicide, he is said to have muttered "What an artist dies with me!"

So, why did I name my house after such a place of decadence and debauchery? Well, once you step inside, the reasons become quite obvious.





Can you see all the gold in that place? I have affectionately dubbed it the "Porn Palace" which only heightens the comparison.

The resemblance does not stop there. Out front we have these two views:


Please note the fountain and man-made lake.

Also, note the varied style of architecture. From what the neighbor has told me, this little loop was built by a man named Cosby who got rich in WWI by selling scrap back to the government. After the war, he and his wife toured Europe and fell in love with the variety of houses. They returned and built these houses representing all the different styles they saw in Europe. This loop he called the "Keyhole" as it was on the western edge of the city and looks out over Byrd Park. Apparently, he lost his fortune when the stock market collapsed in 1929 and committed suicide. His wife moved out of the corner house and into one deeper in the loop. Two pairs of houses have been occupied by twin siblings. In one they even cut out doorways in order to be able to access each other from the inside. I can't wait to learn more history as we go along.