Exterior- Slow Siding

The exterior clapboards are going up, but it's excruciatingly slow...

The painters are lined up, but we can't have them start until the siding is complete.  And then we'll be racing against the cold weather.  

But that's the least of my concerns right now... we've got a major deadline to get the flooring in the kitchen done.  The cabinet installation is quickly approaching (it has been scheduled for weeks), and the templating for the countertops is also scheduled for two days after cabinet installation.  The flooring guys showed up for 1 day to prep the old boards, but they haven't been back since.  

I swear... I can't wait for all this construction stress to be over with!

Family Room Touch Up

While we had the paint out for the powder room, we also did the touch up on the walls that were re-done in the family room.

Here's the before of the boxed in pipes...




















And the after photos...

I'll be happy to get rid of the big plastic sheet hanging in the family room, but that will have to stay until after the kitchen floors get sanded.

Powder Room Painting

We wanted to paint the powder room prior to the fixtures being installed, since it would be easier to get in the back corners.  We decided to do the same color as the family room, since it's right across from it...

The first coat had it looking quite bright (and almost pinkish in tone, but that calmed down once it started drying!)

The room still needs to be trimmed, but it's getting closer to done!  We don't have the door for this room yet, so that's keeping it from being fully functional.  The heat needs to be installed too.

Master Bathroom Tile- Post 2

If you remember our tile shopping trip, we fell in love with this basket weave tile for the floor of the shower tray...

So, it was very exciting when the tiler started first with the decorative tile.  It took a lot of time...  It didn't cut well- he tried with the wet saw, then tried cutting it dry, and even tried cutting it through the plastic.  Evidently it was a real plain, but at the end of the day, it was dry fit and looked beautiful!  

He was back the next day to get it down.  After a full day, he called me upstairs to look at this...

Apparently the super tight weave (there wasn't even 1/16 for grouting) wouldn't allow the tile to bend as was needed for drainage.  We pretty much lost 2 days as he tried to make it work- what a waste of time & money- so aggravating!

So, in order to keep the project moving... that night we ran out and picked out a new tile for the floor of the shower:

This one has larger grout lines, so can be sloped towards the shower drain as needed. 

Master Bathroom Tile (post 1 of ?)

After the MANY days of sheetrock/spackle posts, I'm scared to even label the tiling posts by days.  

I don't know if it's that we've been conditioned by all the half hour TV renovation shows to think that these things happen more quickly than they really do... or if these guys are, in fact, really slow.  Maybe a bit of both!

Anyway, I think I'll try to consolidate the posts a bit- since I'm over a week behind with posting the progress, I'll tell you it isn't going as quickly as I'd like.

The first day that the tiler was here, he got all of his gear set up in the master bedroom (still empty from tearing down the ceiling).

Then over the next two days he got started with the shower tray & mudding...

I should also add here that we asked our contractor to add a little shower shelf for shampoo bottles:

As the shower tray was setting, he moved on to "mudding" the rest of the floor:

On day 3 of tile prep, the plumber finally showed up.  After double checking the tub he decided that he needed to move the drain pipe out from the wall a bit... which, of course, is better to do now than after the tiling has been done. 

So, now that those are completed, we will be able to move forward with the tiling!

Master Closet Flooring

We've been going back and forth over what to use on the floor of the master closet.

We quickly ruled out wall-to-wall carpet, since we don't have it anywhere else in the house (thought it would be weird to suddenly have it here).  

Putting wood flooring might also be weird- going from wood in the bedroom, to marble in the bathroom and then back to wood.   It seemed like a lot of transitions. 

Continuing the marble from the bathroom seemed like the best option- but it was also the most expensive.  For a room that no one else will ever see, and will also be covered with shelving and likely an area rug, it seemed like a waste.

Then we found this tile and fell in love with it...

The texture reminds me of cloth- which I found very appropriate for the closet!

The dark color contrasts the white marble really nicely, and will also go with the wall color we have picked out.

We laid a few pieces down to see how we wanted the seams to go...

We decided on very tiny grout lines, and picked a dark grout to use.  The tiler is working on the master bathroom now... pics coming soon!

Exterior Siding- more progress

The exterior of the back of the house is slowly progressing:

One side down!

Exterior siding

Here's where we left off with the exterior:

I'm happy to report that we've had more progress out here!

It's Hardy Board clapboards- a manufactured cement board that should hold up better than wood.

It's pre-primed, and we're in the process of lining up the painter.  We hope to get it done before the weather turns too cold!

Laundry Room Tile

We've got some tiling going on upstairs!

Here's the laundry room floor tile, with the spacers in place...

There was a few days before he'd be able to get back to grout, and we had all of the priming stuff out from the kitchen, so we ran up and primed the ceiling and walls up here!

And then the grout was added... we chose a very light gray.  It always gets messier, before looking better!

From the hallway doorway

From the corner on the same wall as the hallway door

And a few days later, we have this...

From the hallway door

Reverse

I still need to wipe it down another time to get rid of the film on the tile.  I want to get in there and paint the walls before we install the sink or bring up the washer & dryer.

I guess it's a good thing the master bedroom is sitting empty, since it allowed them to set up the little tile cutting station in there!

Kitchen- Primed

We are now all primed, and the kitchen feels so much better- less dusty and really like a room now!

View from the dining room doorway

The plasterer thought that that back nook was going to have full wall cabinetry, but there is going to be uppers & lowers (with a bit of wall showing in the back).  So when hes back for the ceilings in the dining room and bedroom, we'll have him do the finishing coat on that section.  I wish we caught that sooner!

View from the back door

Powder Room

Butler's Pantry

View from the corner between the stove & the sink

View from the corner where the table will be

I also went ahead and primed the windows.  The builder still needs to do all the trim work (after the floors go in) but since we'll likely be in a time crunch preparing for Thanksgiving, I figured I'd get done as much as I can now!

Back windows

Demo in the old kitchen

We've been holding off on the rest of the demolition of the old kitchen, to allow us use of the stove, fridge, dishwasher & sink for as long as possible.  Although I'm so sick of looking at it, I'm thankful that we can still cook & clean as needed.

We did start removing some more of the cabinets, though.

Here's where we're at now... pretty hideous!

From the main hallway door

That green box on the left is a chimney.  It had two big holes in it- filled with coal dust.  It was a MESS... black dust got everywhere.  It was worse than the sheet rock dust we've been dealing with!

Oh and the hole over the ugly stove- that's from the old fan, and goes straight through to the outside of the house.  We stuck some insulation in there for now, and the contractor has ordered some wood clapboards to fix the exterior right up.

In that corner next to the sink, there was some flooring exposed.  We hope it's in good enough shape to keep and refinish.  Our contractor seems hopeful- but we won't really know until the layers of flooring on top are removed.

Moving on...

Reverse from the window

From the new kitchen doorway

We're now waiting on the return of the sheetrock guys, to fix this ceiling too.  I'm hoping that they can get our bedroom ceiling done at the same time.

Laundry Room Cabinet

I'm getting antsy and want to do some decorating!  A few weekends ago, we were trying to stay outside to keep out of the drywall guy's way.  Here's the little project I found to work on... of course, I completely forgot to take a "Before" photo.

I had a vintage metal cabinet that we picked up back when we lived in our old house.  I always used it in the laundry room for holding the laundry soap, bleach, etc.  It was looking pretty beat since it's been in the basement of this house, which is pretty icky.  There were a few rust spots and tons of spider webs!

I emptied it out, took it outside, cleaned it with a wire brush and sanded some of the rusty spots.

Then I used a blue spray paint to paint it inside & out.  

I chose the blue to compliment the Laundry Sign that I am going to hang near it.

So now it's being stored out in the barn until the laundry room is done.

Sheetrock- Day 15

Whew- the kitchen has been sanded!

 It doesn't look much different, but for the record...

View from the back door

View from the dining room doorway

Butler's Pantry

 These rooms are now ready for primer!

The third coats of spackle went on the family room side, but still needs to be sanded:

Looking towards the kitchen doorway

Reverse