I feel like I have accomplished a lot, yet there is still more to do. Bob has been taking some loads over to the farmhouse so we can at least move around this house without so many boxes in the way.
So far I've filled 4 large boxes for the yard sale. Yay! Dejunked house, here I come.
Friday, July 31, 2009
We thought we were immune.
Turns out that when people tell you your project will go up to 25% over budget and take longer than expected, they were right.
We thought we were immune.
We were not.
We thought we were immune.
We were not.
Moving date is now firm!
We're moving into the house Aug. 7.
We'll get the U-Haul truck Thursday afternoon and load as much as we can. We'll work all day Friday, and again Saturday morning. We'll take a break Saturday afternoon to attend a friend's wedding, then probably have more to do again on Sunday.
Then I will take a long nap.
We'll get the U-Haul truck Thursday afternoon and load as much as we can. We'll work all day Friday, and again Saturday morning. We'll take a break Saturday afternoon to attend a friend's wedding, then probably have more to do again on Sunday.
Then I will take a long nap.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Almost done!
So much has happened since I last posted! We've been busy finishing up the details of the house and packing for the move.
Here's what is left to do:
Here's what is left to do:
- Final building department inspection!
- Wash windows, including window frames.
- Mount recharge station in mudroom.
- Figure out shelving/hooks/cubbies for mudroom storage.
- Hang temporary curtain in downstairs bathroom (need a 24" tension rod).
- Fix oversized electrical boxes behind three porcelain wall sconces (girls' room and guest). Also fix sewing room ceiling. (Leigh coming Tuesday.)
- Repaint what Leigh fixes.
- Touch up copper paint along baseboard in downstairs bathroom.
- Touch up oops paint spots on all ceilings.
- See what's in box from cabinet company that's sitting on 18" kitchen cabinet and install.
- Wipe clean inside of kitchen cupboards.
- Make sure plumber finished downstairs bathroom sink sprayer and dishwasher installation.
- Turn on water heater (when it's inspected Thursday morning ask how).
- Clean vintage light fixtures that are already installed.
- Wait for Rejuvenation package to arrive (expected July 31) and install beaded chain fixture.
- Recoat trim under stair railings.
- Touch up golden fleece paint around stair railings and edge trim.
- Install stair railing for final inspection. Tighten handrail on left.
- Decide on internet service and arrange for installation.
- Wipe clean bathtub.
- See what's needed for new plugs on stove and dryer.
- Touch up blue paint around stained glass window in girls' room.
- Pick up any loose hardware around the house.
- Clean up linoleum scraps.
- If time, cut linoleum scraps for under sinks.
- General cleanup.
- Clean off front porch.
- Empty kitchen and upstairs bathroom cabinets.
- See what's wrong with vintage kitchen light (one of three bulbs not working).
- Install mailbox.
In preparation for the move:
- Green table is 34" wide. Check to see if there's enough space for comfortable seating in breakfast nook.
- Measure stairway to see if queen bed will fit upstairs (bed is 5' wide). If not, either devise complicated pulley system, dangerous ladder or loader tractor scheme, or panic.
- Double check width of downstairs bathroom. Room for huge open pantry (4'1" wide)? Also consider height.
- See if mudroom door will swing open wide enough with pantry in front of window (would start 11" from door and is 17" deep).
- See how long dining room wall is along stairwell. How many inches of bookcases will fit before it's open to railing?
- Line up U-Haul, vehicles and helpers.
- Hang room layouts so everyone knows what goes where.
Fat chance we'll have time, but if we do we should ...
- Repaint the green table legs to high-gloss Jersey Cream. Edge trim semi-gloss Dover White.
- Paint the preschool locker unit to match the dining room (either Blonde or semi-gloss Dover White).
- Hang pegboard in sewing room.
- Maybe repaint girls' closet doors correct Superwhite color if time.
- Stain the mailbox post.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Toady McToad came to visit
We've had the first toad on our kitchen floor. Addy found it in the yard and brought it in to show me. I'm sure it is the first of many.
Meanwhile the house is really looking like a home again. All ceilings are painted and all walls have one coat of paint. The girl's bedroom is finished except for electric, including final paint and carpet. The hallway and stairs are the same, except for railings. Our bedroom and closet need the final wall paint (trim is done), then the carpet being stored in the shed will be ready to install. Later Pat will put closet shelves and rods in both rooms.
The office has carpet, but not trim. The guest room has carpet and trim, but I need to paint the trim and the final wall coat. (I'm scared! I don't want to drip on the beautiful carpeting! I have drop cloths, but still.)
In the upstairs bathroom the cabinets are all in, flooring is installed, and tub and shower have been installed for awhile now. Yesterday the plumbers installed the shower door and it is as beautiful as I had hoped. Pat is finishing the tiling around the tub, and the Wisconsin artist will make the three maple leaf tiles to fill in the spaces Pat left for them. Once baseboard trim and trim around the window by the bathtub are done, I'll finish painting.
Most of the downstairs has farther to go. It needs all the trim, final paint and carpet. The vinyl is already installed from the mudroom through the bathroom, nook and kitchen.
Steve has been at the house the last two days. He's working on ceramic tile in the living room entryway. I found some nice boxes of remnant tile for $11 per box (99 cents per square foot), which was about a 90% savings from their original price. There was plenty to do the entry and we wouldn't have done it if we hadn't found such a good price. Hopefully it will protect the living room carpet when people come in with dirty shoes from the front porch.
Steve also worked more on painting the kitchen cabinet frames. Pat made the dishwasher opening, cut out the one small bin and matched the curve on the other side of the kitchen sink last week. He raised the countertop and got the countertops installed.
Bob brought back the kitchen cabinet doors and drawers last week that Steve had stripped and painted. Next they will be installed. Pat has to do some work to cut down the door that the dishwasher now replaces, make a new door to replace the large broken bin, etc.
I found a Rust-Oleum Hammered finish spray paint for the cabinet hardware and it looks great. We chose Copper, which looks really sharp. I put silicone spray on the backs of the turn knobs and they should be fine. Finding replacement screws was much harder than I expected. The originals are a #4 flathead brass screw, 5/8" long. And I needed 344 of them! Brass was a little harder to find than silver metals, #4 is a little less common than #6, and I never did find 5/8". I bought some 1/2" and some 3/4" inch and am hoping it works. I'm afraid the shorter will pull right out since the holes are established and that the longer will poke through the back. If that all fails, I have a source in Midland I can try for the exact right size.
Our other problem this week is so far off that it's almost funny. I ordered a U.S. Marble sink and countertop through Mortimer. It was supposed to have the one center faucet hole drilled, then a second hole off to the side for the soap dispenser. Despite Ashley's careful drawing and description, they managed to drill the hole wwwaaaaayyy off to the side, like at the edge of the countertop. So weird. I'd be mad if it weren't so crazy. They'll redo it, but it will be the beginning of July before we get the new one. A piece of paper was laying on the bad sink top when I saw it in our bathroom, so I only noticed that the soap dispenser hole was not by the sink area and thought they just missed it altogether. I was about to tell the plumber that I needed to have that taken care of when he told me my soap dispenser hole wouldn't work because it would be inside a drawer. That's when he lifted the paper and showed me the hole wasn't missing; it was just severely misplaced.
Oh, and we also need a new water pump. That's probably the most expensive news we've had in awhile, but neither Bob nor I was the least bit surprised given the age of everything.
Meanwhile the house is really looking like a home again. All ceilings are painted and all walls have one coat of paint. The girl's bedroom is finished except for electric, including final paint and carpet. The hallway and stairs are the same, except for railings. Our bedroom and closet need the final wall paint (trim is done), then the carpet being stored in the shed will be ready to install. Later Pat will put closet shelves and rods in both rooms.
The office has carpet, but not trim. The guest room has carpet and trim, but I need to paint the trim and the final wall coat. (I'm scared! I don't want to drip on the beautiful carpeting! I have drop cloths, but still.)
In the upstairs bathroom the cabinets are all in, flooring is installed, and tub and shower have been installed for awhile now. Yesterday the plumbers installed the shower door and it is as beautiful as I had hoped. Pat is finishing the tiling around the tub, and the Wisconsin artist will make the three maple leaf tiles to fill in the spaces Pat left for them. Once baseboard trim and trim around the window by the bathtub are done, I'll finish painting.
Most of the downstairs has farther to go. It needs all the trim, final paint and carpet. The vinyl is already installed from the mudroom through the bathroom, nook and kitchen.
Steve has been at the house the last two days. He's working on ceramic tile in the living room entryway. I found some nice boxes of remnant tile for $11 per box (99 cents per square foot), which was about a 90% savings from their original price. There was plenty to do the entry and we wouldn't have done it if we hadn't found such a good price. Hopefully it will protect the living room carpet when people come in with dirty shoes from the front porch.
Steve also worked more on painting the kitchen cabinet frames. Pat made the dishwasher opening, cut out the one small bin and matched the curve on the other side of the kitchen sink last week. He raised the countertop and got the countertops installed.
Bob brought back the kitchen cabinet doors and drawers last week that Steve had stripped and painted. Next they will be installed. Pat has to do some work to cut down the door that the dishwasher now replaces, make a new door to replace the large broken bin, etc.
I found a Rust-Oleum Hammered finish spray paint for the cabinet hardware and it looks great. We chose Copper, which looks really sharp. I put silicone spray on the backs of the turn knobs and they should be fine. Finding replacement screws was much harder than I expected. The originals are a #4 flathead brass screw, 5/8" long. And I needed 344 of them! Brass was a little harder to find than silver metals, #4 is a little less common than #6, and I never did find 5/8". I bought some 1/2" and some 3/4" inch and am hoping it works. I'm afraid the shorter will pull right out since the holes are established and that the longer will poke through the back. If that all fails, I have a source in Midland I can try for the exact right size.
Our other problem this week is so far off that it's almost funny. I ordered a U.S. Marble sink and countertop through Mortimer. It was supposed to have the one center faucet hole drilled, then a second hole off to the side for the soap dispenser. Despite Ashley's careful drawing and description, they managed to drill the hole wwwaaaaayyy off to the side, like at the edge of the countertop. So weird. I'd be mad if it weren't so crazy. They'll redo it, but it will be the beginning of July before we get the new one. A piece of paper was laying on the bad sink top when I saw it in our bathroom, so I only noticed that the soap dispenser hole was not by the sink area and thought they just missed it altogether. I was about to tell the plumber that I needed to have that taken care of when he told me my soap dispenser hole wouldn't work because it would be inside a drawer. That's when he lifted the paper and showed me the hole wasn't missing; it was just severely misplaced.
Oh, and we also need a new water pump. That's probably the most expensive news we've had in awhile, but neither Bob nor I was the least bit surprised given the age of everything.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Paint
We continue to paint. And paint. And paint.
Today I worked on more Kilz primer on wood trim and on painting the first coat of the upstair hall doorways. I also filled the stairway holes. It doesn't look like much progress, but we're getting there.
Today I worked on more Kilz primer on wood trim and on painting the first coat of the upstair hall doorways. I also filled the stairway holes. It doesn't look like much progress, but we're getting there.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Vote for Addy's picture in farm photo contest!
When Addy isn't playing in the maple woods or the hay loft, her other favorite place is in the barn at my family's dairy farm with Uncle Duane. Duane snapped a beautiful photo of Addy with a red-and-white Holstein calf this winter.
If you can, please take a second and vote here for Addy's photo to win the contest. The deadline is May 25. (Click on "Vote today!" Then Begin Survey. Hers is photo 5, child relaxing in straw with calf.)
If you can, please take a second and vote here for Addy's photo to win the contest. The deadline is May 25. (Click on "Vote today!" Then Begin Survey. Hers is photo 5, child relaxing in straw with calf.)
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