TV Room – Page 4 – nicole.groudasfamily.com

Front Hall Drywall

This past weekend was awesome! My parents came out Friday night and we spent the weekend putting up drywall in the front hallway/entry and closets. It’s not ‘finished’ because of some areas we left out strategically and also some areas we just ran out of drywall. Plus it was getting late on Sunday for them to drive home.

First up (after tons of prep work), Dad drywalled the closet in the tvroom, some of the plaster walls are staying so it was one wall and a section of ceiling to do.

Ryan and Dad framed out the wall at the end of the staircase (we wanted to open up the front entry a bit more) and this adds support under the second floor.

Next on the list was the front hall closet (coat closet), this was finished up Saturday…

DSCN1530 — Outside of the closet (actually done on Sunday)

Next Ryan and Dad drywalled the stairway, this will keep Fitz from digging the insulation out of the wall so he can hide his bone in the pile of insulation he would make.

DSCN1531 — 3 pieces high (less than a full sheet to go - but the ceiling has to be done still)

And finally a view of the front hall itself, the exterior wall is finished, the wall leading into the tvroom is finished (so we can install the door now), the wall under the stairs is finished and the wall with the arch is started (ran out of drywall), we also still have to finish the other wall in the stairway area.

DSCN1534 — The wall under the stairs (hidden here) is finished, and hte wall to the tvroom is finished!

DSCN1533 — The wall to the livingroom area is started, leaving the easy pieces for ryan and I to manage on our own.

It was a productive weekend, I barely did anything though (never do when they’re drywalling), i mostly hand the screw gun to someone and maybe screw some of the smaller pieces in while the big pieces are getting hoisted by Ryan and Dad. Much better than when it’s just Ryan and I 🙂

Mom was not sitting idle this weekend either, not only did she cook/clean up, she also picked up the yard and mowed for us! Something we just haven’t had time for. While she mowed I weedwacked which I don’t think has happened since early summer at least!

And Sunday evening after getting cleaned up I headed down to my sisters to play with my nephew for the evening! Then driving up to see my nieces on Monday and spend the day with them! It was a great break. Finley is at a wonderful age for playing even if I can hardly understand her ‘conversation’ 🙂 And by hardly I mean she mostly uses 4 or 5 words that have real meaning but she can babble on about something, luckily not caring if I just babble back. We played princess and shopping and baby doll all day until Emily got home at which time we got into a few bigger girl games. It was a great day and I can’t wait to see them again this weekend!

In the meantime, aside from working, I hope to get some costume progress made. Spackling is on hold until costumes are done!

Cabinet Doors and more

We had a pretty productive weekend, especially considering we also found plenty of time to relax and recoup from a busy week. Friday night Ryan started working on the cabinet doors and now has all of them made up! Here’s a picture of one set of doors, the small ones are still clamped while the glue dries and these Ryan shimmed in so you can see what they will look like.

Here’s a closeup of the door detail before the doors were finished:

The doors came out really great, the center is MDF beadboard but once it’s all painted you won’t be able to tell the difference. We ordered all the hardware for the drawers (10 drawers inside) and hinges and latches this weekend as well.

While Ryan did the cabinet doors I worked on the cabinet for the gym. I made the top out of poplar, attached it and added some trim. Then did a final sanding and primed it.

DSCN1163 — Trim detail added under the top.

Next for the cabinets, once the hardware arrives, Ryan can install the doors with the hinges (they have to be mortised). Then we need to make the drawers and install them. Once that’s all done and everything is sanded and primed, we’ll make a top, install it and start working on the bookcases that go above the cabinets. I’d like to get the bottom part finished so we can even use it before working on the bookcases.

And the gym cabinet just needs 2 coats of paint and a drawer to be made and added (probably). For now I may go without the drawer and see how usable it is without it.

DSCN1190 — And just for fun, here's a new picture of Fitzy boy!

Early weekend progress

Friday night and Saturday morning we got some great progress done on our individual projects this weekend already. I worked one the curtains for Aimee’s nursery (finished them by 11:30 on Saturday!) and Ryan made great progress on the built-ins for the tvroom.

Friday night he made the face frame for the right side cabinet in there, and Saturday morning he attached it and made the face frame for the left side. Then he played with his router bit that he hopes to use for the doors.

DSCN1139 — The built-ins with face frames!

DSCN1138 — The router detail we plan to use on the doors, we just have to pick a type of panel to use, this would be a flat panel option.

After a trip to home depot I headed down to Aimee’s house to see her and my nephew again. He didn’t really wake up much during our visit but he did move around a bit and attempt to open his eyes for split seconds here and there, then fell into a comfy sleep (probably after he filled his diaper).

I’ll post pictures of the curtains tomorrow once they are hanging in the nursery, they don’t look like much all folded up and I can’t wait to see them hanging!

Happy Mother’s Day

It’s been a crazy week and a half! First and foremost, my sister is now a mother! 2 months earlier than expected but she and my nephew are both doing well so Happy First Mother’s Day to my sister!

Last weekend while my sister was in the hospital my family all went down to their house to help out by finishing the nursery and of course offering support in any way we could. The nursery really came out great and by the time my dad headed home we had even put in the new rug and moved in the furniture.

2011-05-05_07-31-43_860 — The nursery 'finished' (just waiting for mommy and her baby!)

2011-05-05_07-31-54_934 — The dresser and changing table

This weekend Ryan and I found ourselves unexpectedly home so we spent some time working on the house (what else).

Saturday we got chores done and then made the face frame for the cabinet that goes in the gym and got that attached, as well as some feet.

DSCN1126 — Gym cabinet with face frame added

Ryan also finished the base for the TV room built-ins. Which made it easy to jump into continuing work on the built-ins today. While I sanded the gym cabinet, Ryan got the pieces for the boxes to the built-ins all cut and ready to go. Then we put the boxes together. We can finally get an idea for how they will look!

DSCN1124 — The right side cabinet box in place

Next on that project list is to make the face frames.

One other little project we did today was give Fitz a bath (well a hose shower).

April Vacation Day 1

It’s that time again – stay-cation time that is. And we kicked the weekend/week off strong.

I got the final coat on the gym walls! The gym is so close now!

While I was painting Ryan was getting the tv ready to mount on the wall. We had to install the outlet as well as a cable and ethernet drop up by the tv (antenna and internet stream directly to the tv). Then we hung the tv which took about 5 tries and some extra wood blocking to move it away from the wall and level it.

DSCN1058 — Tv hanging - and Fitz sitting like a good boy

I think we’re going to end up lowering it later on, it’s a bit high, we actually centered it above where the cabinets will be but we decided it will just have to be un-centered so it’s more watchable. It works for now and it’s gotten ryan motivated to start the built-ins this week!

DSCN1059 — Starting the base to the built-ins

I’m going to go install the outlets in the gym and get that room looking finished, then we’ll put down the gym floor mats and move the treadmill in! I’d like to do some yard work today, i think it’s going to rain a bit this week and the yard really needs to be cleaned up. I spent this morning doing a quick vacuum/cleanup of the house since we have family coming and not everyone enjoys Fitz hair everywhere 🙂

Deliveries

Today was full of deliveries. Ryan was very excited that his new 58″ plasma TV arrived safely and he’ll have it to watch basketball all weekend while I’m away.

I was excited that our fan for the gym arrived. We got a 52″ fan. The only downside was that it came with a control module and a remote instead of using a regular control. We had planned on using the Maestro control we purchased which included a fan module. So after pulling out the fan and taking a look I decided to try unhooking the wireless control module they had and replacing it with ours.

A couple hours later and it worked! I was very surprised this worked, I was sure I’d be plugging it all back in as best I could (I did jot some notes down). So the fan is in and the fancy switch we like works!

DSCN1034 — Maestro Fan/Light dimmer switch - and it works!

Considering I didn’t get home from work until 8pm and didn’t start fussing with the fan till 9, it’s not too bad that it’s midnight and I”m just now getting back to fixing our internet (router was reset) and heading to bed. All in a days work. Off to NYC this weekend with my cousin Hannah to see Wicked! First up a stop to see my sister – and there will be pictures!!!

Ready for Christmas!

I can’t believe it’s only Saturday night, we’ve had such a great weekend already. Of course having a cold isn’t great but it’s mostly an annoyance at this point, making me sniffly and tired.

Ryan’s parents came out to visit Friday night we had dinner, watched movies, baked some cookies and relaxed this morning. After they left Ryan and I ordered our front hallway lights (chandelier and sconces) online.

These will be our sconces:

http://www.lightingdirect.com/royce-rw2195-2-transitional-two-light-up-lighting-wall-sconce-from-the-stalton-collection/p672015

And our chandelier – although picture with shades that match the sconces:

http://www.lightingdirect.com/royce-rc2195-6-tuscan-six-light-up-lighting-chandelier-from-the-stalton-collection/p671777

I was pretty worn out after that so we took a nap while watching It’s a Wonderful Life, getting into the Christmas spirit! The nap was great, I woke up so refreshed, not cured of my cold but definitely a bit better. I helped Ryan build his work table for building cabinets, he’s also planning on building a router table but we started with the work table.

His table is a great size for a kitchen island too, so I persuaded him to roll it into the kitchen to help me bake cookies! In a few hours I had the annual neighbors’ cookie plates all wrapped up and ready to hand out tomorrow:

This year I went with gingersnaps, sugar cookies and inside out chocolate chip (white chocolate chips in a chocolate cookie).

So a little more baking in the evenings this week (still got to make greek cookies to bring home) and a few presents to wrap that arrived today and I’m ready to go.

Tomorrow if I’m feeling up to it I’ll work on the electrical a bit. I’m hoping the sconce lights don’t take long to arrive because I need to figure out what kind of box will work with those before wiring them.

And I’m off to relax for the rest of the evening (which means take NyQuil and go to sleep) 🙂

A weekend home

We didn’t do much around the house this weekend, it was too hot and humid and we had a picnic to go to on Saturday.

Sunday we did manage a few small projects, first we hung the bathroom door!

DSCN0358 — Finally a bathroom door hung.

It still needs some touch ups (had to plane off one corner – which is very familiar since we had to do the same for our exterior door). And we have to put in a door lockset or a tiny handle on the current lockset. But the door functions which is a huge improvement!

After we relaxed during the hottest part of the day we decided to do some paint stripping on the trim for the tvroom. A lot of it had been stripped but the 4 pieces for the window sides need to be done still so Ryan got out the heat gun and I got out the strippers and we got to work. Until I cut my finger – then we called it a day.

DSCN0359 — Stripping trim for the tvroom

A couple more hours and we’ll have the trim for the windows all done. The trim for the exterior door is done already but can’t go in until we have a closet door frame and trim installed.