15floors

The sprint for floor covering.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

This weekend marks the final weekend before the flooring deadline. We need to be completely done with painting/construction by this Thursday!

This week had a lot of other events too… Collin’s birthday and graduation party was last Friday, Valerie and family came to visit, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup, and I got a minor sunburn on Sunday watchin’ the Buccos trounce the Detroit Tigers.

1countertop1

The counter tops are in, this is just set in place, the dishwasher and sink need to be installed.

1aboverange1

Ron and I set up the range hood microwave, I’ve still gotta finish running power to it tonight when I get back to the house.

2subfloor2

The old hardwood was so uneven we had to get sub-floor for the slate laminate to go down.

2cutfloor1

The kitchen only needed patches made for sub-floor.

3laytilemike1

Mike, Ron and I laid the tile down starting at the front door.

3valcame1

Here’s proof that at least the back of my sister Valerie’s head visited from Georgia.

3inkitchen1

We had to special order this tile, and of course, because of the odd shape, had to order more to finish a spot in the kitchen, to be continued…

3floordown1

Here’s how it looks before the edges are finished.

3floordown2

Seamless out to the front hallway, I think it looks snazzy.

4showerfaucet1

The shower is installed. Here are the faucet and spout.

4shower1

We acquired this super nice giant rain shower head.

4shower2

It’s like our own personal instant monsoon season.

4sink1

Ron and I installed the bathroom sink.

5bannister1

The girls put a coat of stain on the wood on the bannister. Only one more to go, with a little bit more detail painting on the newel post.

5pantry1

The pantry built-in is now painted to match the trim, the doors are off and drying.

It’s coming down to the wire now. We’re almost done and ready to move in. We’re hoping soon.

The Carpet deadline looms in mere days now. We’ll scramble to finish the odds and ends this week. Next weekend, there should be pictures of a completed interior for you.

Its been a long road, but here we are, sprinting all the way.

14clean

Cleaning Up

Things are coming together.

Carpet has been scheduled. The deadline for all other projects is now Thursday June 18th.

Mom and Dad came down and helped on Saturday! They were in town for Collin’s graduation. Congrats Collin! Also, Jessie and Dad had a birthday this weekend! Jess was Saturday and Dad was Sunday! HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!

1ronfaucet1

In preparation for the water in the bathroom being turned on. Ron attaches the fixtures to the tub.

1shower1

Here is the device to activate water flow in the shower area.

1toilet1

Finally! We have a real toilet, one that flushes and everything! Also, if you notice there’s a cool classic chessboard ceramic floor!

2newdoor1

We received this nice glass door from Karin and Robin, we’ll repaint and embellish it later.

2miketrim1

Mike, Ron, Sandy, Amy, and Jess started to paint the kitchen cabinets and trim around the house.

2pbtrim1

Jess is a true visionary with color, nobody believed that her colors would work out, except me of course.

2pbtrim2

Here’s the hallway trim, still need to finish the front of that electrical junction.

2pbcabinets1

Here are the kitchen cabinets after painting.

2pbcabinets2

Here are the cabinets and shelf over the range.

3dadscratch1

Mom and Dad came to help! Here Dad tries to figure out how this place got to be such a mess!

3dadvac1

A master at work, he must have experience with sawdust.

3momdadclean2

Mom worked on the windows while dad swept floors.

3momscrape2

I think I need to take lessons from Mom on how to clean windows. When she got done with this one, it looked like the glass was gone.

3sandyscrub1

Sandy finished the final sanding and cleaning of the railing so that it can be stained and painted where it needs it.

4mastercloset1

My closet has doors! I still have to put the handles and catches on tonight.

4shelf1

I put up the tracks for the movable shelves in the living room.

4yellowroomfan1

Jess refinished the blades of the fan for the guest room.

5brasschand1

We don’t have any more brass in the house. So I am refinishing this chandelier.

5brasschandparts1

Here are all the little individual accent pieces.

5graychand2

I rewired all of the sockets for safety. Here it is with the new gray powder coat looking finish.

6entrychand3

Jess has been saving this crystal chandelier in her Dad’s garage for years. After about 3 hours of love and cleaning. Here it is.

6entrychand7

This thing looks great and now graces our front foyer as the first sparkly thing you see, unless Jess answers the door.

 

13big2

Big Progress: Pt. II

Part Two: Harry Potter and the Order of the Tuscan Glaze

As promised, here is the second set of pictures from the recent update. The problem with using 2 different cameras seems to be remembering where the pictures are.

As I briefly mentioned, we built bookcases, trimmed windows and doors, and did a bunch of painting.

1bookcases1

Here are the bookcases with a coat of paint. Laura came over and helped us on this.

1livingfan1

I installed the new light and fan in the living room.

1millwork1

The mantle looked a little barren, so I got some extra millwork for it.

2baycasing1

We recycled the original casing from around the house where we took out doors and windows, and made it fit the bay.

2baycasing2

Just a few simple angles cut and Ron was able to allow the casing to retain it’s original face shape but become a corner piece.

2baycasing3

Even though the bay windows aren’t original, they look like they fit the design since we used this original woodwork.

3windowcasing

We reused the original casing on this window too, and the original sill, (there is however another piece waiting to go on here, under the sill).

3sandytrim

Sandy painted the trim in the bathroom.

3hallwaypaint1

We also put a coat or two of paint on the hallways. The color is called Aqua Breeze.

3hallwaylight

Here is the new light fixture for the upstairs hallway, its a platinum/gunmetal sort of finish. Goes great with the light blue on the walls.

4amyjesstuscan

We wanted the dining room to be fairly formal, so we went with a Tuscan glaze on the walls.

4jesstuscan

First we had to put on a Wheat colored base coat. Then Jess and Amy used a technique to put the glaze on.

4amytuscan

It uses the base coat, and 3 other colors of glaze/stain which are dry brushed onto the roughly textured plaster.

4jesstuscanhigh

The light and dark colors fill into the texture and create a really nice depth.

4ellajesstrim

Ella helped Jess finish the trim and fine details.

5staindone1

Here it is, it’s still masked for the painting of the trim.

5staindone2

The inside of the built in is also now a dark glossy walnut color.

5staindone3

The girls did a fantastic job on this room, its almost complete! Just a bit more trim to paint!

We’re almost there!