It is getting very close now! This last weekend we made some more progress on the tvroom. I got 5 of the 10 drawers sanded, and 2 coats of shellac put on them. Ryan installed the hardware so they’re ready to get installed and we only have 5 more to go 🙂
I also got a first coat of paint on the shelves, hopefully finishing up those this week so we can put them in! And finally I cut in on the last 2 walls and ceiling in the tvroom and ryan got the rolling done so the walls are completed and the room is looking more finished for sure!
We still have to finish those 5 drawers, the shelves and make the doors for the built-ins but it’s very close now and much more usable. Once the shelves are in Ryan can finish installing the speakers (2 more to go) and our 7.1 surround sound will be done as well.
That’s right – we hired someone for another project. This time we decided we really want the porch to be stripped (lead paint) and re-painted before winter so we decided to hire someone to do that work. Interestingly enough I could probably do this stripping faster if we just hired a babysitter, but the work is getting done and I don’t have to do it so bonus.
What are they doing? We are having the soffit and frieze board around the top of the porch all done, the tops of the posts (the bottoms are being rebuilt by Ryan’s Dad). The soffit and frieze along the roof line on the driveway side of the house and the shingles in the peak (those are not being stripped but just sanded and then painted). Finally the siding next to the side door is going to get stripped and painted. It’s easier to show in pictures.
Rather than strip a lot of this, they are actually just taking down the wood and replacing it, fine with us and cheaper for them.
This section of siding will be stripped and then painted green with yellow for the trim.Here you can see the posts are stripped and that upper frieze board was replaced, the piece between the posts and the top has also been stripped but needs some repair work (they are going to screw it up to secure it better than putty it up). The posts and frieze/soffit will all be yellow.The outside frieze/soffit removal is started. I believe they remove the entire thing and replace it because the moldings are all standard and easy to replace rather than strip. The carpenter is waiting for confirmation on that from the contractor so he’s waiting on that.The work up here hasn’t been started yet but they will replace and/or strip the soffit all along the roof there just like the porch. The shingles will be sanded and painted red, the soffit yellow and the molding they are going to add in will be red. There are also 2 sections that were rotted a bit so they are going to repair that up as well. The only section they aren’t touching (except to sand and paint) is the shingles and frieze around the shingles.
So that’s our house progress while we have no time to work on the house just yet. I have the shelves for the built-ins primed, ready to be painted. I also made one of the two curtains for the nursery so some progress is being made here and there. Hopefully this weekend will see more progress.
Baby girl is 4 months old already! In exactly 1 month she will start daycare so today we went over to check it out and meet her ‘teachers’ and fill out paperwork. Alex loved watching the other kids (she always does) and I think it will be a great fit.
What’s new this month? Well Alex laughs (sometimes), blows raspberries! All.the.time – as of yesterday. Rolls to her side like a pro (not all the way yet). Holds her head up steadily now. Found her feet (but hasn’t eaten them yet, just plays with them). Scratches herself daily (insane how quickly these darn baby nails grow!). She’s drinking pear juice now – her first non-milk ‘food’. You know, all the things those genius children do – read books, count to 10 (just kidding) – but we’re having lots of fun.
We had some fun taking photos today…
It is so hard to choose a favorite so there may be a lot…didn’t get many smiles but a giggle is greatgoing for the feet, i had to grab her so i wasn’t able to center the pic but still cute!oh hello thereand some tummy time, always tough to get good pictures because she hates it, i tricked her by using her giraffe to pose her a bit. This lasted for about 20 seconds longer than normal (which is 2 seconds)For size reference, getting so big!
Well it’s done! We are officially no longer using oil – the oil boiler is gone! That really saves a lot of space in the basement, opening it up a bunch. The gas line is in (they even planted grass where they tore up the lawn – and some of it is growing even without me watering it haha!). The new water heater (tankless) is in and feeding the hot water for the house. The heat works, although it was only on to test it. We have a furnace in the basement that does forced hot air downstairs then we have a gas line that goes up to the attic and runs a furnace up there that has forced hot air through ceiling vents to the upstairs.
The oil furnace is gone!New tankless water heater nicely mounted!
New gas furnaceA view of the main trunk and return trunk.
We also have central air in the upstairs (condenser unit outside) that has been on for a few weeks (no gas needed). So we are very excited to have actual heat this winter – no oil bill (just a gas bill which should be MUCH lower than oil has been!).
We also bought our own heat registers for the floors downstairs, the brown ones they installed were very nice but we were looking for something a bit more ornate to match the victorian feel since the downstairs has so much nice trim work we are doing to keep it victorian. Upstairs the vents are in the ceilings and I couldn’t find nice ones to replace them so we’re leaving the simple white vents up there.
Heat registers (this is actually a return, the registers are smaller)
If I haven’t said it, I’m very excited, last winter half the downstairs didn’t even have heat because we had removed the radiators during renovations. Now every room has heat (the kitchen will be light on heat until we renovate and he comes back and adds a second drop to it but that was our choice since we don’t know the layout yet). The ducts take up a lot of space but surprisingly they fit well in the basement, you can easily walk under them without even bending over so it shouldn’t be a problem. In the attic they are all run to the side (behind what will be a knee wall) and then under the floors leaving the main area open still.
We just have to insulate the attic before winter so the furnace doesn’t freeze up. Technically we could put in the knee wall and just insulate around the furnace but with the spray foam it’s easier to just do a large area. We’ll see what happens, we have time before we have to decide and other projects to finish first.
On my list now is to find someone to remove the old oil tank and then someone to remove the old steam radiators!
