Painters in da House!

The Painters are here! The Painters are here! Fernando and Levi showed up today, and started puttying and caulking. They have probably another part of a day, and then it'll be ready for trim painting. Not sure when they'll be back for that, but soon! And this is a CRITICAL step, because once the trim is complete, we can install toilet #2 and the pedestal sink in the powder room. Yes, an actual indoor sink with plumbing. So no more washing hands, paintbrushes, etc at the hose in the back yard (a cold proposition in the winter!).

Photos and further updates to follow!

Is there a Dr. in the House?

Nearly another week lost, and frustratingly. Saturday I came down with some stomach ick that is just now resolving. You know, 'nard issues. Enough said.

So, though M has been making progress on trim and the last door to be installed (between the loft and the later-to-be-finished craft/mechanical area) I have not seen any of it with my own eyes.

I'm taking my sorry self out there today to see what's up and to report on what's next. Our appliances are still scheduled to be delivered Monday, but I'm wondering if we should postpone--at least a week or so. The painters still haven't started . . . .

In the meantime, Happy Valentine's Day all!

Kitchen love

Another few days have passed without a ton of progress on my part. Luckily M has been working on the casing around the living room pillar and the beam that spans the kitchen and living room. Here are some in progress shots:

Partial casing on beam. First step. (That red thing in the background is a plastic cover over the smoke alarm. It looks like a red shower cap, but kept me from getting paint on the alarm). Looking toward office (right) and powder room (right).

Same beam and casing, but looking up from below. First step was to place the 2x4s you see sandwiched between the beam and the trim.

Mocking up the trim. This is not the final plan, but it was interesting to try some different options. The amazing thing is that M is not following a pattern for this casing, but kind of has a vision, and an idea of the style, and it making it up as she goes along. Definitely not the way I work, but then I wouldn't have the patience to get it right like she does.

With the bottom piece on, and with mockup.













And now on to my current favorite thing in the house. The back splash. We are so in love with it, and now with the grout complete, even more so. It feels like a long time ago that we looked and looked and looked for tile, and then debated about splurging for this tile, and then wondered if it would be too bold a statement (shape and color). We could not be more thrilled with it!

It's so fun to see all the choices and finishes come together, and then to be so pleased with them.







10 days until appliances (if we don't postpone for a couple more weeks).

Yeah!

A little sprucing up

You know how when you have a deadline, you get distracted by all kinds of stuff that's not part of the deadline, yet seems so important? No? You don't know? This doesn't happen to you? Hmmmm

So there's no firm deadline (yet) but I was making great progress on a checklist of items that I can do without supervision (read "without M taking time away from stuff only she can do to help me") but then a couple days ago, I looked out at our sad backyard. Sad because the trees are mostly leafless, the veggie garden is dormant, and the dahlia bed is covered in weeds. Sad because the tufts of green grass (yes, I'm grateful that our grass is green this time of year in California) are already too high and too tough to mow. Sad because there are piles everywhere: piles of dirt; piles of concrete; piles of stucco, piles of stuff to burn (dead branches, leaves, etc); piles of pots for the garden; piles of lumber; piles of siding. Sad piles. 

And then I cast my eyes upon this sad little structure:

Sad, no? When we bought DG, there was a large stack of old wooden garage doors in the back yard. Like about 12 of them. Who knows why, but after discarding many of them, M used her amazing ingenuity, and used a couple to build this temporary shed. So it's not totally weatherproof, and not very pretty, but it helps keep some of the metal lawn furniture, old motorcycles, and other miscellaneous stuff mostly dry.


I was looking out at the yard, and noticed how dumpy it looked and got an idea. What if we painted it and hung a couple old windows on it. It doesn't change the functionality (it's a temporary structure, but I don't see a new, cuter, more functional one being built any time soon--afterall, I want to be living in the HOUSE, not the shed!), but it sure might make it less of an eyesore. It wouldn't change all the other piles of crap stuff in the yard, but my idea was that if the eye had one pretty place to rest, maybe the other stuff would seem, well, less crappy.

See the piles?
















So we spent maybe 2 hours max, and here's what we got:

The spruced-up version. Still a little, well, unpolished, but it is way cuter and makes me smile to see it from the kitchen window.

Catching up

Hmmmm, more infrequent posts. It's alarming how now that I'm unemployed, it seems like I have less time than ever. I'm racing through chores this morning so I can get out to DG and get to work!

I've been trying to spend the weekday mornings looking for work, and then spend the afternoons working on the house. It's been a good mix, but I never feel like I have enough time out there.

It's definitely a good time for me to have some extra time, as we're getting a lot of things wrapped up, and the end is in sight. Still no prospective move-in date, but hopefully soon.

SO, in the interest of getting caught up, here's a list of progress:

Interior painting: all complete except a tiny touchup in the loft, finishing the stairwell (I need M for this--the ladder on the stairs scares me!) and a touchup in the master bath. In the last 2 weeks, I've repainted the laundry room, cut in all the bedrooms, livingroom, kitchen, dining nook, mudroom and guest bath. This from the girl who previously wasn't allowed to cut in. I mastered that beast and am pretty proud of it!

Laundry Room: All painted. 1/2 of cabinets hung. BEHEMOTH refrigerator moved in. I'll save all these photos and a detailed description for another post. They're single-post worthy!

Great room/Dining Room: All painted. All flooring in. Trim ready to paint. M working on casing of beam and pillars.

Kitchen: All painted. All flooring in. All cabinets installed. Countertop and sink installed. Needs plumbing. Island needs to be built. Trim painting still needed. Appliances due to deliver in 2 weeks!

You can see the backsplash and the counter here. It hasn't been grouted yet.

Finally, a photo where the countertop is a bit more visable. In person, it's really sleek and shiny. It comes out pretty flat in most photos.

No, that hood isn't blue--it's just the protective coating that I'll remove once all painting is complete. We're thrilled with how the kitchen is coming along!



Powder room: All painted (though ceiling needs one more coat, and walls need touchup. Ready for trim paint, then toilet and sink can be installed. All wainscotting installed.

Stairwell: Stair nosing finally received. Need to install hard wood on stairs, and stair risers. Needs finish painting (at ceiling). Needs trim painting.

Guest Bedroom: All painted. Ready for trim paint. Needs window seat cushion.

Guest Bathroom: All painted. Ready for trim to be painted, then toilet can be installed. Needs tub pluming fixtures. Need to find/make vanity.

Master Bedroom: All painted. Closet painted M nearly finished with cabinetry. Here is a play by play of the "build" of the unit that will be our dresser/built in/window seat:

Building the cabinets. That's M's mom in the upper right corner--she LOVES building these!

More building. M's mom Mary in her work suit we made for her 2 years ago for her birthday. It's a white coverall one-piece, with "DEAD GUY ESTATE: Work Crew" stenciled on the back. She wears it out sometimes (she volunteers at the SPCA petting cats and it comes in handy protecting her clothes). It cracks me up that she will wear it out in public!

Moving the boxes into place.

A day's work. Note only the small drawers are in place, and there are gaps in between the boxes. This will be fixed. Also note the poor paint job at the ceiling--this was pre-mastering of the cutting in technique. Rest assured, it's all fixed and finished now. It's amazing how it makes EVERYTHING look so much better!

M practicing how small she can make herself. Partially completed drawers. Still mocking-up height on both sides. There was quite a bit of back and forth about how high these puppies should go to maximize our storage as well as look built in when complete. There was also some controversy about how bulky they looked when they went up nearly to the ceiling and didn't step back. In the end we compromised.

With partial trim in place. Isn't it neat how these are starting to look like built-in furniture?

And the nearly finished product. Note that there will be doors on the top box on the left to mirror the right. And that small "step-back" on the top box was the compromise with the height. Now I need to buy a piece of foam and cover it in something fun to go on top of the window seat (yes, we really do have a window seat in both bedrooms--this one is functional with the drawers below. The guest room one is strictly there to add some charm and hide the HUGE HVAC duct that runs through the room!




We still need to pick out carpet for both bedrooms, too.

Master Bath: the tile in the shower floor is partially laid, but we're still assessing it. The vanities will be painted by the painter, and then (also once the trim is painted) we can install those, plumb them and get them working. I still need to do some touchup painting it the master.

Other: the deck railings need to be installed (and purchased!) and the stairs finished.

Overall, though, you can feel the momentum. I can't wait to get in there!