Plumbing- roughed in

From the kitchen, you can see the plumbing work that goes up to the master bathroom.












In the downstairs half bath, it looked like the hole for the toilet was placed too close to the sink fixtures.  We already have the vanity & toilet, so we brought them in o check the placement of the plumbing...

They had to move the hole a few inches to the left so that there would be enough room for both pieces.







Master Bath plumbing isn't as far along... they ran the pipes to the second floor but needed to check the shower & tub fixtures and placement of them with us.




The laundry room is looking great...











For the new drain pipe to connect to the septic system, they were going to run it through the basement.  But the pitch that was needed meant that it would cut right through the middle of the "room" and we'd have to be ducking under it.  We don't plan to have much down in the basement, but we still weren't crazy about the sound of this.  Mike talked to the plumber and they decided they could connect outside, but it required a trench to be dug and a bunch of our forsythia bushes to be moved... but we are happy with this solution!

They have a few odds & ends that need to be finished up before the plumbing inspection can take place.  It was supposed to happen Thursday... delays, delays :(

Good news is that the inspector did the rough electrical inspection on Thursday and we passed! 

Once the plumbing gets done they can inspect that and the framing.  Once we pass that, they can start working on the exterior siding & interior insulation!

Shopping Trip- Tile

It seems like we're making runs to Home Depot or Lowes at least once a week.  Here are some of our purchases...

We fell in love with this tile for the master bathroom shower floor (just inside the shower):

The floor of the bathroom we plan to do a white marble, but we haven't picked that up yet.  The white marble will also go up the walls inside the shower.

Here is the tile that we picked out for the laundry room...  

And here's what we picked out for the back door foyer & the half bath downstairs.  We decided to do these two areas in the same flooring since they are so close to each other.  We needed a tile that could handle the mess of the kids & dog, and also needed something that wouldn't get slippery when wet.  I'm excited about this, because it looks like real stone!

Framing- even more

While the electricians were working, our contractor was framing out some more areas that weren't completed.


First there was the window that went into the family room.  That was finally removed and framed out to become a solid wall.

That little bit of stone to the left is what I'm hoping we'll be able to keep exposed.

Then there was upstairs in the master bath.  We decided not to remove all of the stone up here, but the wall needed to be framed out a little more to accommodate the electric.  The light brown mud is where the rock was removed for breaking through the doorway into our bedroom.

I had wanted this doorway to be a bit more to the right, so that I could put my small antique couch on the left side.  But that would require a lot more work with extra support since we'd need to move the old beams.  It seems like a smarter choice to leave it.  I've decided that it will, instead, give me room to put the antique dresser Mike got me back when we were dating, on the right side of the doorway :)

Ice Cream Parlor Chairs

It's been a while since I posted about a project that wasn't related to the kitchen renovation.  I was feeling like I just wanted to get a little fun project done.



 My parents had given us a bunch of these ice cream parlor chairs when they were downsizing.  I had picked up some black spray paint to touch up our wrought iron outdoor furniture, and decided to take these out of the garage and see how they would clean up.

I needed to remove the seat so that I can re-cover the cushion.  That's when I realized that this would split the chair into three pieces.

That made it easier to scrub them over with the wire brush to remove old chipping & peeling paint.

Then it took a couple of rounds of spraying to get all of the nooks & crannies without drips. 

I just rotated around to each piece of furniture to allow some drying time in between coats...

I wanted to get a material that would go with the house once it get's repainted when the extension is done.  That lead me to pick this print...

The photos make it look brighter red than it looks in person!

I also picked up some batting, so that there would be a little bit of cushion.

Since some of the chairs don't have seats at all, and others were cracked or just feeling less stable than others, Mike took the wooden seat from the chair above and used it as a template to cut new ones for me.  

I then covered the wood seat with the batting & material, securing it using the staple gun.  Then I re-assembled the chair.

 I'm quite please with the results!

One down... several more to go!

Update- check it out!  My chairs were featured on "The Dedicated House"!   Kathryn hosts a Before & After party that is a great place for DIY inspiration!

More Electrical Work

The latest status on the electrical is that the electrical panels are installed, the new smoke detector wiring has been run, all switches and outlets have been roughed in, the outlet in our bedroom has been completed.

I just took photos of the new electrical panels.
Here's the basement...














A smaller one was placed in the attic space...

As mentioned here, we took care of the cable wire that was running across the opening to this room.  No more playing jumprope! The ethernet cable is also hooked up, and working great in the media room!

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

As far as the project goes, there is still a bit more electrical work for them to do... we added on running the electric to the garage.  That required Mike digging a trench from the house to the fence (where the pipe then runs under the driveway).  Good thing I had the post about digging that trench- it helped us locate where exactly the pipe ends!

We are also having the electric re-run to the well house.  That pipe already exists, they just need to run new wires through.