Month: June 2009

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.

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

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.

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

The kitchen only needed patches made for sub-floor.

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

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

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…

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

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

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

We acquired this super nice giant rain shower head.

It’s like our own personal instant monsoon season.

Ron and I installed the bathroom sink.

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.

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.

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here are the kitchen cabinets after painting.

Here are the cabinets and shelf over the range.

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

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

Mom worked on the windows while dad swept floors.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

Here are all the little individual accent pieces.

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

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.

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

 

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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).

Sandy painted the trim in the bathroom.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Ella helped Jess finish the trim and fine details.

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

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

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

We’re almost there!