Gym – Page 2 – nicole.groudasfamily.com

Front Hallway electric done

A quick sand and a second coat and the gym floor was done for the day this morning. Still a tinted coat, the third coat will be a clear coat.

Once the floor was done we dove back into the electrical. Now that we had daylight it wasn’t difficult to go into the attic to wire the upstairs hallway lights. A few hours later and we had both the stairway lights (sconces) and the upstairs light wired to their own 3-way switches. Lights lights everywhere.

DSCN1026 — New switch at the bottom of the stairs

DSCN1028 — Switches at the top of the stairs

After dad headed home I did cleanup. I’m surprised by how much we got done this weekend. Poor ryan is getting the cold I had last week so it’s going to be a quiet evening. Maybe some sewing if I’m not too tired to do anything but read 🙂

Floors and more…

What a LONG day – we’re just now sitting down after a 14 hour day (of course we had breaks for lunch and dinner but not long)! And the progress we made shows what a day we had.

First up – the gym floor!!! Dad spent the morning sanding it down and we did a bonus section of the hallway outside the gym (leading into the kitchen). By lunch it was ready to coat (so we headed to home depot to get some stained poly).

DSCN0986 — First pass with the belt sander

DSCN0988 — I helped with the vacuuming between sanding passes

DSCN0996 — This is the bonus section we decided to do, first we had to take up the linoleum in layers

DSCN0998 — Scraping up the felt stuff from the edges so dad can run the edge sander

DSCN1001 — Final time around the gym edge

DSCN1003 — A look at what the oak would look like with a clear coat (using mineral spirits)

At this point we broke for lunch and for a trip to pick up some poly and a paint brush. Before I show the finished floors I’ll show what Ryan did this morning.

While dad worked on the gym (with some help from me), Ryan got an early start putting up the window trim in the tv room…

DSCN1004 — Finishing up the second just in time for a lunch break (and a home depot run)

DSCN1006 — And the windows are trimmed out!

And back from lunch, we decided to try mixing a tinted poly (minwax) with a clear poly (to thin it out a bit). We didn’t like the oak with a clear coat and wanted a darker floor. Here’s our new gym floor!

DSCN1012 — And 20 minutes later (or thereabout) the floor is finished! (Well coat #1 anyway)

While Dad did the poly, Ryan and I installed the outside lights finally.

DSCN1015 — Check out those front lights, now if only they had some electricity...

So while at lunch we decided we needed to plan another project for the afternoon since the floors only needed another 20 minutes. We decided to work on the upstairs closet, not realizing what we were in for!

Hours later, we basically just got some wiring done – and undone. First Ryan took out the baseboards and then I took out the insulation from the ceiling (that was a messy job!). Then we took a look at the mess of wiring and tried to figure how much we could remove and leave the rest of the non-closet lights working.

Finally, we re-routed the original wires so all the upstairs lights still worked. We also put in a closet light with a switch.

Then we dealt with having no electricity downstairs (in the front hall and livingroom). We decided to actually wire the front hall off the planned feed that was run. The livingroom which was tied to the hall light is temporarily staying on there but now the switches in the front hall all work!

DSCN1019 — Outside fan, porch lights and hallway light 3-way all wired!

DSCN1020 — New coat closet light wired up

The only lights we don’t have hooked up yet is the upstairs hallway light and sconce lighting on the stairs because we need to run some wires upstairs in a new run. Just doing what we did took hours. So no real closet progress was made but the electrical is in good shape!

That was a very long day. Tomorrow the second coat will go on the gym floor! Time to rest up!

Gym Ceiling is done

Monday night I could tell I was getting sick so as I usually do when that happens, I take some meds and try to squeeze in one last “chore” before I’m out for the count. Since Ryan had to work late I made myself a pizza and then did the final coat on the Gym ceiling. This was really just cutting in and then rolling the one corner we had patched. The rest of the ceiling didn’t need a third (or fourth) coat 🙂

I ended the night by working on stripping the Gym door some more. I’m just about finished with one side. I figured since my neck hurt from looking up, I’d do the stripping which usually hurts my neck from looking down 🙂

Unfortunately taking Nyquil did not help me sleep at all, I was up most of the night, congested and with a headache (severe cold). Around 5am I took some mucinex D which helped a lot and I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep.

I haven’t managed much more today than to watch a movie (Princess and the Frog finally). Looking at the computer is not good on my eyes when I have a headache but I figured I should check some emails and make sure I wasn’t missing anything important.

I’m heading over to the store to get some juice since I haven’t felt up to eating much and need some vitamins. I sure hope this cold passes quickly, I have a few more things I’d like to work on around the house this week.

Family weekend

Not a lot of house progress this weekend but we had lots of family time so it was a great weekend. Friday night Ryan put up the rest of the door trim, although it’s only tacked in place with the nail gun, it still needs to be secured with a few more finish nails before I can caulk and prime it.

Saturday we went to Ryan’s sister’s house, spent the day and night with his family (his parents came too). We celebrated Ryan’s father’s birthday and spent the time playing with the nieces. It was a great weekend. Sunday we drove home and relaxed a bit, then I did some painting. I got the ceiling cut in and painted – which was a lot of work and unfortunately definitely needs a second coat, at least of cutting in (which was the hard part) 🙂

2011-03-14_08-38-12_502 — ceiling painted (again) 🙂

Not a lot left to do on this room. If I get a night or two to do some painting we’ll be just about done! My goal of finishing the room entirely by the end of March looks very realistic now! 2 years and 2 rooms completed, not a bad goal 🙂

Some painting

Ryan had to work late tonight so after I got home and had some dinner I decided to do some painting. First I sanded the crown molding and baseboards lightly. After cleaning that up I put the second (and final) coat on the crown molding and then the first coat on the baseboards.

Once i cleaned up the paint brush from that, I pulled out the bathroom paint and did a coat on the spots we had touched up. They probably need a second coat still, we’ll see how it looks once it dries.

Tomorrow night is stitch night! Twice in one month, definitely a record since I moved to NH 🙂

Gym Progress

This weekend we focused on the gym, Ryan only had Saturday off, having to work Sunday. Saturday we got started with the baseboards, making the main part out of the poplar we have. Then following it with a cap piece we bought at a millwork place in Brookline.

DSCN0964 — Baseboard installed all around

While Ryan finished up the baseboard I went around and primed all our touchups on the wall and ceiling and then caulked the baseboards. Finally Ryan installed the two side pieces of trim for the gym door, not having time to put the top piece and corners on yet before we broke for dinner and to relax.

Sunday while Ryan worked I did a few projects. First I sanded the baseboards and the window trim. Then I cleaned the room really well before starting to paint. I started with a coat of paint on the crown molding and window trim (final coat on the window trim). Then I primed the baseboards.

DSCN0971 — Baseboard primed and door trim started

After finishing up the painting I started on the door, I’m stripping it down to refinish. I got a good start on the first side before dinner time. Now we’re relaxing while watching Les Miserables 25th anniversary performance on WGBH – it’s awesome!

Last weekend

A little late in the week for a weekend post however I was a little distracted this week with work and a new programming class I’m taking.

So last weekend, specifically Friday night, after Ryan got home I finished sandng around the edge of the gym while he worked on starting the baseboards. He got a decent start which we’re hoping to quickly finish up this weekend. This wall was the hardest wall because there is no way for the baseboard to float under the floor and the floor bows. The other walls have room for the baseboard to float a bit to help make it level.

2011-03-02_08-18-17_305 — Baseboard started in the gym

Saturday we loaded up trim to bring back to NY where Ryan’s sister and dad are stripping trim for us (a HUGE help!). Then headed back. We spent Saturday visiting with family and Sunday we went to see Lion King at Proctors before a long drive home.

As I said this week has been mostly a blur but I did some quilting last night – I’ll post a picture tomorrow and we have big plans for working on the house this weekend!

Sunday progress

Another early start today with the dreaded door hanging to do. The first step was selecting a different door (or hinges) that had the right in-swing we needed. Once we found one (that wouldn’t be needed elsewhere), I stripped down the edges of the door so it wouldn’t be a problem to hang it. I also cleaned all the paint off the hardware for the door by boiling it.

DSCN0955 — Door stripped around the edges, this went much faster than expected because there was no varnish under the paint!

(Note: we didn’t end up using this door because it was too warped. Instead we used the attic door which didn’t need to be stripped before hanging.)

While I was doing this, Ryan was working on the door frame, getting it ready to hang the door.

DSCN0957 — Ryan working on the door frame (making room for the hinges)

Just in time to help install the door frame and hang the door, Ryan’s parents showed up! It took a few hours and a few doors but finally we got a door that was straight and fit and after some sanding down it hangs nice and even. After the door was up Ryan installed the plinth blocks while we got ready to head to dinner.

I started sanding around the edge of the floor while Ryan and his Dad hung the door. Tomorrow Ryan will work on the baseboards since he has the day off. I’m working from home so I can see the progress of the baseboards but I have a lot of work to do so I couldn’t afford to take the day off. We are installing the baseboards before refinishing the floor because there will be a quarter round in front of the baseboard which we will add last after the floors are re-finished. I am sanding around the edge of the floor before the baseboards go in so we won’t mark up the baseboards when re-finishing.

DSCN0959 — Edge of floor (new patched space) sanded

I’m so excited to see the gym coming together so quickly at the end like this. After baseboards we’ll just have to put up the door trim!

Saturday Progress

We made some good progress Saturday, Ryan was up very early and started working on removing the pipe for the gym radiator so he could patch the floor. So the first thing I got to do after waking up was to bag up the asbestos – fun 🙂

Once the pipe was removed he worked to patch the floor while I finished caulking the crown molding and spackling. We had some leftover oak flooring he used to patch the floor.

After lunch we made the door frame after picking out a door (we have since switched the door we picked but the same door frame we made still works.

Once the door frame was made I sanded and primed the crown molding before cleaning the house. We spent the evening over at Uncle Pete’s to celebrate Maia’s birthday with the girls.

So here are some pics and my updated gym project list…

DSCN0947 — Radiator pipe and floor removed

Updated list:

Patching the gym floor (where we remove the radiator pipe)
Patching the floor all around the edge (no need – baseboard will cover it)
Installing the door frame (and making one or stripping one down)
Installing the door trim
Installing the baseboards
Finishing the ceiling (spackle the corner, prime it, paint the final coat on the whole ceiling)
Sanding and caulking the crown molding
Priming and painting the crown molding
Sanding and caulking the window trim
Painting the window trim

Crown Molding – it’s up!

First – for future reference -be careful when buying moldings at home depot, these were marked at 53/37 angles however that’s not a standard spring angle (37) for crown molding, so we decided to actually measure the angle using some of the nifty tools Ryan got for xmas. Right on the dot it was 38 degrees spring. Which is standard, so that’s what we used.

We also decided to start on a different side this time around, leaving the crazy bowed ceiling side for 3rd instead of second, and helping to hide our last coped corner behind the door in case it didn’t come out great. And without further ado – here are the pictures to show our work for the day…

DSCN0928 — third and definitely the hardest piece

Just a quick note about the piece above the window … this is where our ceiling bows down and also where our wall bows a bit. So to accommodate these curves we had to scribe and cut the molding along the ceiling. Finally in the left corner we had to just leave a gap (we could only bend it so much) and decided to spackle the ceiling down to match the molding in that one corner. We were actually quite happy with this piece when done but it was a lot of work.

DSCN0932 — close up of what the molding looks like (and the corner coped)

After getting some cakes in the oven while ryan went around and added some nails and set them all to tighten it all up, I went around and filled all the nail holes and did some spackling (couple of dings in the walls to get too).

Since the spackle was out (for the ceiling corner and dings) we decided to touch up the bathroom a bit too. We got a crack next to the door so we put in a piece of wood behind the drywall and screwed along the seam. Then I spackled it to start the process of covering it up. Probably need 2 more coats on this seam.

DSCN0935 — fixing the seam in the bathroom

Now I’m off to work on my valentine’s cake project… if it’s successful i’ll post pics tomorrow.