Momentous Weekend

Lots to report on from this weekend.

The biggest news is that on sunday morning Drew came over to put up the last 4 pieces of trim and to remove all his tools and equipement from inside the house!

When we returned from an outing, he'd removed all the floor protecting paper on the main floor. Over the afternoon and evening, i swept, mopped and hand wiped down most everything. We can now access the entire main floor without putting slippers on.

Countertops:

All dry but they scratch much to easily. Need to talk with Maria at Green Home to see what can be done. We are wondering if the installers didn't use the right sealant.

Lights:

I disassembled the transformers for the LED track lights and stuffed the parts into the junction box in the ceiling. Now there's just a plate and wire that runs to the track lights. Still need to dab some white paint on the small orange part.

I had to move 2 of the 3 tracks since the cover plate was too large. No big deal but now there are lots of holes to patch in the ceiling.

Pantry:

The trim is all in and looks really good. Still left is for me to paint the small area of floor.

I still need to finish spreading the new insulation in the attic and insulate the power conduit. Waiting for the glass to be installed so that when i open the door to the attic, we don't loose all the heat from the house.

Bathroom:

Got the trim all painted and did a test patch of grout sealant. Over the next few nights i plan to seal the floor. The only thing we are waiting on is the light over the medicine cabinet. Been on back order for 2+ months.

Schedule:

Monday - plumber and painters are scheduled. By tomorrow the kitchen sink and dishwasher should be hooked up and no more using disposables and doing dishes in the downstairs sink!

Painter should be about a week since they have so much to do. Once they are done, Drew will be back to install the two interior windows and some misc. pieces.

Countertops Take 2

As we thought it was a month in waiting, but at last they have arrived and were installed and sealed in one day.

In a surprise they brought 3 pieces: the island and both parts that make up the L. I guess they didn't want to take a chance on them not being the same thickness again.

The pre-cut tile was also dropped off. These will be the backsplash.

On monday the plumber is scheduled. If he installs the sink, faucet and dishwasher we'll have a fully functioning kitchen. Well, almost, still need the fume hood installed.

The painters are also scheduled for monday. According to Drew it will take them about a week and a half to stain and seal all the new trim, plus the stairs and built-ins.

Also, the bathroom is all painted. I've a bit of touch up to do around the edges.

Next up is to seal the floors. Still waiting on the light fixture unfortunately.

Pantry

Today drew put the solid maple pieces on the pantry shelves/stairs to finish them off. They look really great. Can't wait to start using them. The pantry door and more trim went up as well. The countertop installers called and are scheduled to come this friday morning to install and seal the replacement countertop pieces. Then, the plan is to have the plumbers on monday to hook up the sink and dishwasher. If that happens, we'll have a fully functioning kitchen! Still need the range hood installed but that is minor.

Pantry

Gotta say that the pantry is turning out really cool.

All the main boxes are in so you can now easily walk all the way up.

The two photos are taken from the landing and are looking in through the window.

The shelving will be adjustable in the two biggest shelving units.

The faces will be finished with more maple to cover the plywood edges.

more pantry pics

Just one photo since the space is such that it is hard to take them. Drew finished a fair amount today. You can see the basic shape of how you'll be able to climb up.

We did have him change on thing. The tallest section, in the foreground of the photo, was oriented 90 degrees so that the shelves would face outward towards the door. The problem was that, visually, you had this giant mass seemingly blocking the doorway.

So, we had him rotate it and now the shelves inside will face the same direction as all the others.

Pantry Begins

Pictured is the beginning of the pantry built-in. It is a combination shelving unit and "steps" that will allow us to access the crank out window out to the flat, someday green, roof and attic access door.

The view is looking in from the doorway.

Drew is here now working so more pictures soon.

Lots of Trim

Subject line says it all. Lots of trim work in the basement and else where.

In the basement the door between the new and old sections is all done but for the door knob. This is the only new door we had to buy. Also pictured is the door to the utility room. The door knob is low but we decided to not bother moving it.

In the utility room there'll be just a bit of trim around the window and not much else since it is only the utility room. Don't know if we'll even bother painting the walls.

Pictured is the dwindling pile of trim stacked up in the kitchen.

The last photo is the near to last shipment of wood. These are the plywood sheets that will become the pantry stairs/shelving units. The wood is laminated somehow, note the shine, which makes it more durable. In the pantry Drew sketched out on the wall the apx. shape.

Downstairs Room

Shown here is the doorway between the new and old basement sections. Glad there is trim at the top because it covers the bad paint job we did!

The other shot is the door to the crawlspace. You can see the platform of the landing behind.

Downstairs Trim - Porch

The shot is a bit unclear due to the light but this is the downstairs window mostly finished with trim. Apparently, it took a fair amount of work since we have metal studs and it is hard to attach trim to them.

Plus, Drew had to add wood underneath to get things the right thickness. Regardless, it looks great.

The top of the window is higher than the ceiling just a wee bit. An example of the difference between the plan and the actual. However, we like it and the next window size would have been 4" shorter; reducing the light.

Out front the porch is coming along. The entire porch floor is installed so we can use the entire space. Kanohi and i used the swing today.

Shock! Outside Progress

Imagine my surprise when i got home this evening and saw lots of work on the front of the house. I'd mentioned to Drew that we'd like the front tyveked to protect the raw wood but this was way more than i was expecting.

Some more shingles were taken down and plywood put up. Hopefully this will cut down on the draft in the front storage space.

On the actual porch, the old floor joists are gone replaced by nice new, and non-rotten ant infested wood. New tongue-and-grove porch boards are in place for about half. Sure beats the plywood sheet!

I'm guessing that the nice weather allowed the work to happen or Drew's rough carpentry crew showed up. Regardless, we are glad to see the progress.

K's Closet

Kanohi's closet had the original trim put back in. The size is a wee bit off but we don't care, it is a closet. Once it is packed with stuff you'll never notice. The bathroom trim is 99% done. I've some wood putty and will fill the holes soon and paint.

I'll be putting in the old shelves in her closet soon.

Trim

Drew said that all interior trim should be completed by 1/22. Then, we have staining, misc electrical, etc. Interior better be done by end of February - having the kids party in March.

Exterior is on-hold until we get the interior done.

Bathroom & Bench

The medicine cabinet is installed. Drew framed this simple box with trim so that it looks like a window or door. One problem we noticed...the box for the lighting fixture is not centered with the sink and cabinet.

The light is supposed to arrive soon. It's been on back order for a long time.

At the back door the bench seat is installed. It is a solid piece of maple. More narrow that i was thinking but it fits the space just right. Behind it will go the coats.

We've been thinking of paint/stain colour for the trim, stairs, and built ins.

Dry Wall Mudding

To both Drew's and our surprise a guy showed up today to do some more mudding of the drywall. Drew thought he was gonna show up on monday next week.

The first photo shows the fresh drywall mud covering up the holes from the shelving supports. It really stands out as it is a bit wet still and unpainted.

Drew remarked how the desk withstood the first strength test - he stood on it to install the upper most brackets.

The painters were also by to begin working up a quote for painting/staining the desk, shelves, stairs, railings, and built-in.

Good thing i was hope at a normal hour as Kanohi's closet was also mudded. Everything was moved out and the floor was a bit messy. I did a quick vacuum and mop of the floors.

The downstairs was also mudded and cleaned up.

Bathroom

After a brief holiday break Drew was back installing trim. Here's a shot of the finished bathroom window. Looks so much nicer.

The medicine cabinet arrived and tonite we marked out the height.

Drew and i talked for a spell about stains for the pine trim and maple built-ins. Apparently the painters are coming this week to work up a cost estimate.