12.27.2007

re:visit

just for kicks, let's take a look at how far we've come in the last five months.

to recap, we tore out the old stair to open up the flow and increase the size of the kitchen and framed a new stair; added a 2nd story master suite onto an existing single-story at the back of the house; installed all new windows (and added some); turned a tiny bedroom into a loft open to the stair below and various other rework required to accomplish all of the above, as well as refinishing hardwood floors, new tile floors, etc. we're now at 2200-2250 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, + loft, + office/small multipurpose room off the family room. click to see the plans.

some before and afters for your viewing pleasure (not all pics are post-primer coat, but you get the idea):

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(please excuse the mess. what, you don't live out of boxes? well, lah-tee-dah. you and your fancy-schmancy furniture and your pretentious putting-things-away. psha!)

still so much to do, but we've come a long way! still to do: doors, window & door casings, baseboards, finish master bathroom, finish floors in family room, assemble & install kitchen cabinets (in progress), railings at stair & loft, paint, update front porch flooring & railing, build deck in back, paint the exterior...

12.21.2007

re:charge

6 days...13 gallons of paint...2 sanded knuckles...1 paint-in-my-hair incident...1,873 trips up and down the ladder...1 white dog ear, and we're celebrating a white! christmas - a primer white christmas, that is.




and primer white it will be for a while. we wanted to pull up the paper and get rid of the dust and dirt and feel like we are living for a while. and the house looks great already! now i'm dying for some new furniture, but that will have to wait for doors, baseboards, casings, etc...












merry christmas!

12.19.2007

re:frigerator

we received our refrigerator last night! what an ordeal it was for the whirlpool delivery guys to get the semi-truck down our street; i think it took them 30 minutes to travel the last block to the front of our house, having to navigate around low-hanging tree limbs and cable lines crossing the street.

anyway, here it is...alone in the middle of our future kitchen -



and now that we're living in this construction zone, it's hard to get away from working on something, so we've begun the sucky task of priming every single wall and ceiling in the house. this is going to be a long process...






anthony has the fun and instantly-gratifying job of rolling, while i have the boring and tedious job of brushing in the corners and around fixtures. and i'll admit i don't know what the goal of the primer coat is - what sort of coverage should we be going for? should it be a solid white coat, or is a thinner/translucent coat sufficient? are we talking granny's-cotton-panties coverage or sheer-bikini coverage? if you know, help me out here.

12.17.2007

re:locate

saturday was move-in day!
thanks to my boss, we had professional movers and didn't have to bother all of our friends. they got it done in 4 1/2 hours!





(yes, there will be a railing here one day)





we needed to get some closet organizers before we could move our hanging clothes, so we got this nifty package from lowe's and installed it saturday night -


welcome home kiddies! mama missed you...


we covered the floors with paper to help protect them from the movers, and for the next task: paint. we will also work on assembling & installing the kitchen cabinets. we can't really unpack until the walls are painted and the kitchen cabinets installed, so we can set furniture and put things away.

12.16.2007

re:quisite



clawfoot tub reglazing: $395
kohler pinoir pedestal sink: $100 on craigslist
kohler cimarron toilet: $200 at lowe's
chrome bath & shower hardware: $599 on overstock.com
windmill tile: appx $5/sf at daltile (w/ trade discount)

having a functioning bathroom so you can move into your house:
$1,525 + tax & labor.



12.10.2007

re:stain

our wood floors have been sanded, and staining started today!
photos pre-stain:




our wood floor guys also did some minor carpentry work, like this nosing at the loft -


and some thresholds -


the stain is a color called 'spice brown' on the old wood and a 50/50 mix of 'english chestnut' and 'spice brown' on the new wood (since it's much more yellow and doesn't have the red undertones of the old wood)...










pics after first of three coats of poly...






we also have some plumbing work nearing completion -


yay! move-in is scheduled for this weekend!