January 2014 – nicole.groudasfamily.com

We have WATER

I can’t really say a fully working bathroom JUST yet because we are waiting on some minor necessary things like a toilet seat (Thurs), Shower curtain rod (Fri) and we need to buy a mirror. However the bathroom is partially useable and Alex even took a bath in her new tub last night which she (and I) were very excited about. THANK YOU JASON for fitting us in on a weekday!

Jason came out and finished up the plumbing, it included hooking up the drains and faucets and toilet, but also hooking the drain up to the main drain in the basement and venting everything up the original vent stack out the roof. It all looks and works great!

Working shower/bath and toilet just missing a seat cover

So most things are either here and need to be hung (rods) or ordered and on their way. The mirror however we need to buy, we originally got a medicine cabinet but it’s a bit too large to let the lights work right (maybe we should have hung the lights higher?). Instead we’ll return that and get just a simple mirror which will look great. If this wasn’t such a crazy busy week at work I’d say maybe by end of week it will be ‘finished’ but I’m betting more on next week because both Ryan and I are working till midnight each night this week with no real end in sight until the weekend.

Still looking forward to the weekend work of sheetrocking that is supposed to happen! Very excited to see if that works out, that ceiling over the stairs is going to be super hard!

Weekend Progress

Our contractor and neighbor came on Friday and Saturday again this week so lots of progress was made!

Friday our contractor started stripping the archway in the livingroom. Even though there is no lead paint in this (we had everything tested so we know where the lead paint is – upstairs mostly), I wanted the fumes to be cleared out before Alex got home so this isn’t something I can do on a weekend when she’s here. The arch can’t be moved outside to get done 🙂

The back of the arch is just the top, we have to make sides for this part of the arch since it’s so narrow on this side.

And the front side, some great progress for one day!

Our neighbor worked on the front hallway, getting the ceiling and a few missing pieces of sheetrock filled in. The front hall is now ready to be taped/spackled!

Those bottom pieces on each side of opening were filled in Saturday morning after I wired up the last outlet there. Alex is mopping up for us Sunday night 🙂

On Saturday the sheetrocking continued, our contractor firred out the wall at the top of the stairs, outside the nursery so it is ready for sheetrock at some point (soon). Our neighbor started sheetrocking the diningroom and we got the outside wall of the diningroom ready to go too (baseboard removed and pipes cut out from radiator).

Inside wall of diningroom is done! No more cold air coming up through that old chimney causeway. We left it so the sheetrock only has a screw in each corner and can easily be removed to finish plumbing etc later. But it’s closed up to make the room warmer for now!

We can finish one side of the diningroom without interfering with plumbing so they got sheetrock up on the first ceiling section.

On Sunday, Ryan installed the vanity in the bathroom so it’s all ready for Jason to finish up the plumbing this week hopefully!

Another view now that the light switch covers are all installed.

I didn’t get a picture but Saturday during naptime I got the crown molding in the kitchen all caulked and holes filled, ready to get sanded and primed! I also finished up the electrical in the diningroom Saturday so sheetrocking could commence. It was a great progress weekend and we mostly relaxed on Sunday with Alex. I cleaned Sunday and then let Alex continue to ‘mop’ after I got everything cleaned up. We get to use the house for a week and then it gets dirty Friday/Saturday and I clean on Sunday. But progress is being made and I’m NOT complaining!

Next weekend will be interesting, we may have them attempt to sheetrock the ceiling above the stairs! That one project is definitely stressing us out a bit so that would be great to get done.

Trim Painted

The last two evenings after Alex went to bed I painted the trim in the bathroom. This was a LOT of cutting in but it’s done! Now I just have some touchups of wall paint to do from caulking mostly and we’ll install the vanity tonight probably. Jason is going to come out any day now (snow held him up today) to do the finish plumbing and then we’ll have an upstairs bathroom again! Unbelievable.

Door trim all painted… not much trim in a bathroom!

Our contractor came over on Monday while Ryan was home and started getting the diningroom prepped for drywall. He firred out the wall by the built-ins and put up the rough nailers for the beams/boxes we’re going to have on the ceiling. All that is left is to finish up the electrical in the diningroom and then we can get that sheetrocked mostly (we’ll leave some of the ceiling open so the plumbing can be finished later on).

Nailers for beams all up so you can see the shape of our future coffered ceiling

Hopefully this weekend will see some more progress in the livingroom, i’m anticipating some trim work? Our contractor should be back friday to strip the paint off the archway in the livingroom, and our neighbor should be coming over to do some sheetrocking (front hall?). Looking forward to it!

Friday Saturday progress

Friday our contractor finished the upstairs hallway flooring!

Our neighbor finished spackling the livingroom over Friday and Saturday and got the linen closet sheetrocked. Our contractor got the closet door installed and Ryan finished installing the bathroom trim. I sanded and primed all the trim on Saturday evening.

Small bit of baseboard on the sink side.

I’m hoping to get some work done in the evenings this week, specifically some electrical so that our neighbor and contractor can sheetrock the front hallway (finish sheetrocking it) on Friday. We hope to continue with 1-2 days a week of their time so things progress along more steadily than when it’s just us working!

Upstairs Hallway

Our contractor was here all week. He got the hallway subfloor patched and prepped, got the double door removed from our room so he could frame in the back of the linen closet and got to work putting down the new flooring in the hallway.

End of Thursday progress. We reused old flooring for that small section, then the new stuff for the long hallway.

And it goes all they way down to where a new wall will be built later on.

Our new closet door arrived today too (for linen closet) so Ryan will probably install that tomorrow.

Our neighbor is back today spackling. Livingroom is coming along nicely. This weekend we will finish up the bathroom trim, get the vanity installed, ready for our plumber 🙂 We’ll get the door hung for the linen closet. And someone will be coming hopefully to buy the radiators, getting those out of the way! Looking forward to the weekend, and I know Alex is looking forward to her myGym class since she thought we were going there today and kept saying ‘myGym’. Sorry kiddo, just going to the gym at school to run around 🙂

Taping

The front livingroom now has all been taped, our neighbor got out of work early yesterday so he came over and taped the vertical seams. Moving along nicely!

Cupola ceiling, the main room’s ceiling we left in place since it was in good shape.

It’s great! Our contractor is here today, working on the upstairs hallway floor project this week. After this week we’re hoping he can commit to one-two days a week to continue different projects at a pace we can keep up doing our parts (the things we want to do). Diningroom ceiling I think is next on the list (putting up beams).

Ryan mini vacation

Ryan was able to take a long weekend, taking Thursday and Friday off this week (new year!). This means house progress continued, especially since our contractor and neighbor were also here working!

Ryan got a good start on the trim in the bathroom, each piece had to be made except the rosettes which I stripped down on Friday (my day off). I got the final coat of paint on the walls and ceiling so that we could finish up the electrical in the bathroom Friday, including hanging the new light fixtures. All that is left now is to put in the last 3 pieces of trim (rosettes and top piece of trim over the door) and prime/paint all the trim. Then plumbing!

Lights installed. And yes that’sa new patch that has to be painted that we saw after the light was in 🙂 Always some touchups.

The vanity temporarily set in place so we could figure out baseboards.

Our contractor built a new archway at the top of the stairs, removing the old one that was in a less desirable locaton. Then he started framing out a linen closet that we’ll squeeze in at the end of the hallway next to the chimney. I’m very excited about this closet! Ryan also removed the last piece of wall that was next to the old chimney we removed. So next up is starting the hallway floor repair work.

Our neighbor came over Friday and started taping the front livingroom, all seams are done except the vertical corners so that’s coming along quite nicely!

Going to be a great year

If the rest of the year continues on like New Years Day anyway 🙂 Ryan spent the whole day working on grouting. Most of that was cleaning out the grout lines which was no small feat. After Alex went to bed we grouted the shower and floor. All that is left in that department is caulking, then it’s on to trim and final painting. Then final plumbing and we’re done! I see a finish line!

Shower grouted. I love our tile choice even more now that it’s grouted

Ryan unfortunately caught the cold Alex and I have had all week, just in time for his time off of work (today and tomorrow). He may have to take it easy a bit today, it’s a tough cold that lingers a long time. I know he hopes to get the trim done though and start on painting. We’ll see where today goes!