Category: building

Week 6

We only worked a couple of nights during this week as we had BlaseDesign work and family to attend to. However, they were a couple of exciting evenings!

Marc replaced the jenky back door with one that we bought at the Re-store.

We got Ikea Billy bookcases to make the pantry – I only started setting these up because Marc wanted to get all fancy and notch the backs to fit the trim perfectly. And we got the awesome Stenstorp island from Ikea.

And Marc installed the dining table chandelier that we’ve had in storage since we lived in the loft.

Mom installed blinds!

And we started to move in FURNITURE!!!

20/10/2014
Week 5

With the protruding pantry finally gone we were starting to see the light. But, this fifth week would see the most noticeable progress so far!

The first thing on the list was finish the living room and kitchen walls – meaning fill all the holes! Marc had done a great job sheetrocking the master (with help from Chris and Johnny) but, the living room kitchen areas needed some serious work including floating .25″ sheetrock over the entire ceiling and re-taping the kitchen which was too much work for us. So, we hired it out to an excellent crew. But, before they could come out to make things pretty, we had to fill all the holes (around the recessed lights and the attic holes.

The crew was amazing! They quoted us a price and even after caused a few extra holes after the

quote – they fixed them for us for no extra charge. SO WORTH the additional expense that we weren’t expecting.

TA-DA! Smooth, lovely walls:

With the crew working on the walls, Marc and I concentrated on other demo. Marc took out the absolutely hideous light peach

colored backsplash and I took out the baseboards.

It was a productive albeit messy week.

[nggallery id=15]

20/10/2014
Weekend 4

At this point (almost a month in) we figured we’d be hosting BBQs and drinking lemonade on the porch. Not so much. But, rejuvenated by a few days off, we were dead set on making major headway this, the forth weekend of our Leo.

Friday night and into Saturday, Marc continued to work in the attic and I demo-ed the terrible second layer of thin plywood-textured crap that covered every wall of the kitchen. Taking it back to the sheetrock beneath so that we’d have a consistent new texture on the walls and ceiling.

While working in the kitchen I found a spot of old mold; and fueled by only peanut butter out of the jar I MAY HAVE gotten a little carried away – er, totally freaked out – and bashed the wall in eager to save myself and my family from the evil black spots that were surely lurking behind the walls.

So there was definitely some old mold, but, nothing recent and no moisture = no leaks = nothing causing current mold.
MESS.
OOPS! (Marc will fix that.)
And while Marc helped me tear out one of the cabinets where we are going to put the stove hood. More mess.

I also demo-ed the entry closet! It took me three weeks to convince Marc to let me do it. He was reluctant because we didn’t want to start any new, unnecessary projects… But, since we have a sheetrock crew coming the next week to install a layer over the way-old-fashion pop corn ceiling (the kind that you can’t scrape) and to mud and tape the old and new sheetrock, he relented and let me start the entry mudroom we’re going to build (check my inspiration here.) And see the before & after here:

All the while we were working inside, Harrison is starting to get the lay of the land – his new land and the hang of this new house. He spent much of the day wither outside with a closet dowel working on his ninja skills or reading in his room… in private than you very much.

Finally Saturday night… the stupid pantry FINALLY got taken out.

Our friends Face and AJ came over to help/celebrate (beer and cheap champagne!) with us. This was a momentous occasion after all.

[nggallery id=14]

16/10/2014
Week 3

We worked Monday at BlaseDesign then finished the floor of the master that night. We are matching the existing solid bamboo that is in the rest of the house to save money as well as to save on more demo. The previous bamboo was glued down and we knew without even trying that pulling it up would be horrendous.

Installing was pretty back-breaking – I glued and placed boards on my derby-padded-knees or hunched over trying to tiptoe around glue drops on the cement floor behind me while Marc measured and cut boards. To be frank, the glue sucked. (The second time around – installing the kitchen floor was WAY easier thanks to learning what not to do in the master.)
But, we did it — completed just after midnight. To celebrate I laid my ex-derby, almost-forty year old body down in the middle of the room… I literally could have slept right there.

But, after Monday night I lost some steam. The master floor was nice finish work, but, it needed to be shuttered closed to hide it from the dust from the rest of the house. I was getting a little down… doubting that we’d ever be done. And starting to doubt my vision for this house… The tedium of the repairs, the holes remaining gaped open, the insulation floating down on us randomly – tauntingly. What if the house didn’t have the bones I thought it did? What if I’m not an interior designer… oh wait — I’m not.

I have no idea what I’m doing!

This is crazy!

We are crazy!

And as if my thoughts needed another exclamation point…Tuesday night, while fixing some stuff in the attic, Marc’s posterior found it’s way through the ceiling.

After the unexpected hole in the ceiling we took a few days break to eat dinner with Harrison and watch mindless TV in preparation for the next weekend which involved making more messes.

16/10/2014
Weekend 3

We started the weekend with help from Coty (aka Notorious D.I.E) – she and I both retired from the Texas Rollergirls this year and even though she’s broken (from her last derby practice of the year) she has been so generous with her time in helping us try to get this house ready for us to move in!

DIE likes to clean… I credit that to a proper mid-western upbringing, so she and I set out to tackle the fireplace.

BEFORE & AFTER:

Nothing that five or six passes of a scrub brush, simple green, clorox bleach cleaner, water rinse, and a grinder couldn’t handle. That afternoon I had committed to skate in a for-fun derby scrimmage so I left my broken ex-teammate to go play while she stayed and kept cleaning the fireplace… Yes I felt incredibly guilty, but, that feeling dissipated and turned to astonishment and gratitude for that mid-western commitment to a clean house when I returned to find the fireplace in it’s AFTER state. I mean – seriously – that girl is AMAZING!

While Coty was cleaning up the place, Marc put on his Hazmat suit and made a mess. He cut holes into the ceiling for recessed lights and AC vents which is great for the long term, but, bad in the short, as it results in piles of blown-in insulation, gecko eggs, and 50 years of dust falling from the sky. (Yes, that’s right gecko eggs, hundreds and hundreds of hatched gecko eggs. But, that’s a story for another time.)

Throughout the weekend Marc taped and sanded and mudded and sanded and mudded some more then textured the sheetrock walls in the master bedroom. And by the time I got back from my derby scrimmage it was ready for me to PAINT!

A thing of beauty.

After all of that master bedroom progress we headed to our local Mexican place for some food and research on how to run electrical for installing recessed lights over Negra Modelos.

Thanks again internets… it worked:

We woke up exhausted Sunday morning, but knowing that we needed to press on, we went to the house, coffee in hand and headed back to the master to install the floor… but, of course it wasn’t that easy.

The clean-up of the floor in prep for laying the bamboo revealed more of the STINK. We isolated the smell to a few spots of soft concrete filler. (sidebar for a bit of a rant – seriously people, how on earth can you be a local celebrity lending your face to the public campaign for a pet organization and allow your own animals to live like this!? ARGH!!!!!) So, Marc and I worked on chiseling all of the cement filler out of the floor.

So much gross. This website really should come with a warning.

So the floor had now been cleaned and etched and mopped and scraped and chiseled and swept and mopped again. It was the end of the day on Sunday and time to start laying some floor boards.

Marc did this much without me Sunday night, as I had promised to put our kid to bed at least once that week. Marc is pretty rad.

10/10/2014
Week 2

Or more specifically, days 11-15 (Monday-Friday, September 22-26)… fixing the little things in preparation for a big weekend ahead.

The second weekend got us a pretty much finished office and a place to work at the house, Harrison’s room complete, and a bathroom that was usable.

Speaking of a place to work, Harrison completed his first work of art in the new house… with pastels… I mean, it’s great that you’re being creative kid! But, did you need to choose the messiest medium that you own and work in the most complete, cleanest room in the house!?

The other big news of the week is that we had GUTTERS installed! So happy that rain won’t come sheeting off the metal roof, cause damage to the fascia, and puddle at the base of the house anymore! Yay for things that help the house not deteriorate and literally crumble to pieces!

The photo above highlights the damage from years of non-gutter drainage. Another fix that needs to happen… the real question is, when we fix the fascia should we keep the turquoise trim color?
We also got a lawn mower! And used it!
Seriously though, that front yard – that bit right there – is really pretty. It might be the only pretty part of the entire 1.2 acres, but, I’ll take it. Also – that area happens to light up with fireflies at twilight every evening. I literally squeal every time I see them.

Finally what does one do after a long, sweaty, dirty night of working on the house… well, go out to the barn and set mouse traps of course.

I still find myself forgetting that we own over an acre of land. And that we own a barn.

It’s kind of insane.

10/10/2014
Day 10 – the second Sunday

Day 10 – finally feeling like we are making progress. We are so grateful to have had Chris’ help again for the day – he and Marc banged out the sheetrock and insulation installation in the master bedroom. And even three days later the odor is definitely gone… without sealing the floor yet!

Marc made sure that we were able to leave our mark on the house before he sealed it up – how cute is that!? (see the header)

While the boys focused on the master, mom and I concentrated our efforts on the office – touching up all trim, installing baseboards and clearing it out so that come Monday morning we could work from the new house.

That means that 3 of the 6 rooms are ready for move-in – to be fair, it’s the 3 easiest rooms, but, I’ll take it – Hooray!

[nggallery id=10]

24/09/2014
Day 9 – The second Saturday

We had hoped we’d be moving in on this day.
HAAAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA!

Choosing not to dwell on the nagging feeling that we will never actually live in the house that we are paying a mortgage on, we trudged onward.

Marc decided to rip out all exterior-wall sheetrock to check for termite damage and since he was doing that we decided to add insulation. Sadly that meant removing the sheetrock that had been installed earlier in the week, but, in the long run it was a good call. The first task was to replace any boards that were severely eaten. Finally a bit of luck falls our way – the only boards that needed to be removed were about 40% of the bottom plates in that room. (See how well I’m not dwelling? Me = bright side)

While he was busy making sure that our walls didn’t fall down, mom and I cleaned and re-caulked the shower and tub. I may actually allow myself and my family to use it now.

[nggallery id=9]

22/09/2014
Day 3

We last left our heroes here:

With baseboards and 4 feet of sheetrock removed and the cement floor etched with acid. The smell had not yet improved. So, Kylie set about painting the exposed wall with Kilz Max primer. Things were starting to get better.

And while Kylie was taking care of the stink room, Marc, with the help of Chris, worked onknocking out the stupid pantry. (This is a big undertaking and we couldn’t do it without the help of friends and family that are so generously giving us their nights and weekends)

And mom, who is tirelessly helping every day, then taking Harrison home to bed, painted and painted and painted.

[nggallery id=6]

21/09/2014