Lake House Renovations – Page 10 – nicole.groudasfamily.com

A new baby in the family

Aimee, Jason and little Jason welcomed little Madelyn to the family last friday! Alex and I drove down for 5 days in CT to hang out with little Jason and make the time that Aimee and Jason were in the hospital a little easier on him (Alex is a fun distraction). Little Jason did great, he missed his parents but had lots of fun with his cousin, grandma and auntie Cole 🙂 Baby Maddy is doing great, she was a bit early so she stayed at the hospital when Aimee came home but we have high hopes that she can maybe come home by next week?? 🙂

In the meantime, Ryan stayed home (he had to work) and worked on the house over the weekend, our contractor and neighbor came for the whole weekend so when I got home Tuesday night I had a LOT to see! Let’s start with the diningroom:

First up, the drywall is temporarily hung in the second half of the ceiling now, we will remove it to finish plumbing but for now it will look a bit nicer to have it up.

The chair rail and baseboard cap was installed ALL the way around the diningroom and livingroom. The one small section in the diningroom that has to remain unfinished (for plumbing) has none but it’s behind our hutch.

Also notice the walls are primed in here – our neighbor sanded and primed the diningroom (or the section we are finishing anyway) on friday!

The wainscoting – oh wow – so the livingroom is completely done, the diningroom they ran out of the trim for this so there are 2 small boxes left but here’s a view of the diningroom side of knee-walls.

The left one isn’t done, and there will be one on the left of the built-ins.

And on to the livingroom:

First up the cupola – baseboard cap and chair rail done!

And check out these knee walls, the posts are mostly done (they will have trim at the top and bottom but that’s waiting until I finish the oak parts). The quarter round and filler blocks are installed so they match our porch columns! The wainscoting is done:

Another view, wainscoting is done on that back wall too!

And a view of the front section of the livingroom – also finished

These pictures were from Tuesday night, i really should take new ones now that I’ve cleaned and moved stuff but we’ll be painting this weekend so more pictures will be posted after that.

Note the livingroom was also sanded (what was left to sand) and primed!

The front hallway was sanded and primed too!

The first story of the stairs is primed too

So exciting! Now we have a lot of holes to fill, some caulk, lots of sanding and priming of trim! Then painting of walls to do! This weekend we’ll get to work on that prep work and painting. I’m hoping our neighbor can come and finish spackling upstairs, including the linen closet, get that sanded and primed soon too. He can also do some prep on the trim with us.

Just 2 weekends to work until the party! Plus i need to make time to go down and see little Maddy when she comes home from the hospital! So much to do!

A different 3 day weekend

Last weekend I took Friday off of work (kind of, I still came home to work all evening but the intention was there and I had the *DAY off) 🙂

My friend Sarah recently just bought a new house and had a few projects she wanted to do so I went down there to help her out. The main project was sanding down the railings and adding a coat of poly since they were so rough. We did a few other projects too but she’s having the whole house prepped and re-painted so that didn’t have to be done.

The weekend it was back to working on our own house. Saturday we drove around all morning looking for trim we liked and ended up finding something decent we are happy with. This is for the chair rail and shadow boxes in the livingroom. While we were gone our contractor and neighbor were working away. The vertical posts were covered nicely and then baseboards installed in the diningroom.

See that beam on the left of the knee wall.

Baseboards are in (still need cap molding but we dont’ have it yet).

Baseboards in the livingroom were started (cupola mostly done).

And our neighbor finished spackling the front hallway and closet. So spackle wise we have one section of the diningroom being left un-done for now and the upstairs hallway left. I hope this weekend to have him sand and prime what is done on Friday!

Stairway (just the bottom 1/2 is done, my neighbor is afraid of heights!)

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning Ryan’s project (with my help) was the moldings on the cabinets. As you see, the taller cabinets have a very complicated multi-piece molding. It’s kind of crazy actually. We even modified it and removed 2 of the backer pieces by lowering the very top molding or it would have been an inch taller than it is now! So first Ryan got one tall cabinet done, then he did the smaller cabinets that just have cove moldings.

Sunday progress – these 3 lower cabinets – just 1 more cabinet to go!

During naptime Saturday I also got the molding on around the microwave cutout, we completely forgot we bought this molding but it was in with all the cabinet crown!

And finally my last project for the weekend was getting the final coat of paint on the bathroom door! It’s all ready to hang now!

Door done, my little helper helping to put hinges on

All in all a very good weekend. If my neighbor is good with priming walls, then this weekend we’ll start the chair rail and shadow boxes! I need to pick the next door to start refinishing (probably a tvroom door) and we have some electrical to do (I need to hook up that microwave outlet and remove a bunch of knob and tube just sitting around).

Progress everywhere

It’s been a few weeks since I posted progress from the house so we have a few updates. On top of that fact, my in-laws came out this weekend and extra progress was made with their help!

Let’s start with the Diningroom! Our contractor has finished up the beams/boxes for the cofferred ceiling and they look great! They will have crown installed around the inside of each box and it will all be painted white. But for now here they stand:

This is the kitchen side, so the ceiling isn’t sheetrocked (leaving plumbing exposed)

This past weekend Ryan installed the window trim on the diningroom windows, he had 2 sills he made along with the livingroom windows so he just had to make the big sill and install the trim. I stripped rosettes for the windows on Saturday during naptime as well!

Ryan’s dad did some painting for us, more specifically priming but it’s great. The cupola in the livingroom is now primed!

And then he moved on to finish up the sections off the kitchen that have been un-primed for almost a year now 🙂 That’s tinted primer, so the walls are tinted green and the ceiling is an off-white. Just needs a coat of paint now!

Small hallway by the bathroom is primed!

Our contractor has been working on the knee walls since he finished up the ceiling boxes. First he installed these caps of oak which we will stain to match the floor (which will get stained when it’s refinished). Then he installed the columns and wrapped them with wood. We are going to put quarter-round in the corners to match our porch posts and then some decorative trim around the top and bottom most likely.

Another view so you can see a column and a ‘half’ column up against the wall.

And I’ve been getting paint onto the bathroom door, so far one coat on each side is done and both are sanded and ready for coat 2!

I’m on the hunt for door knobs and once this door is done I have a line of doors ready to be painted (prepped and painted), from the linen closet doors, basement door and all the doors we had stripped/dipped. I need a better painting station though, the upstairs area I’m using has no light and only a small window. I think if I move my setup downstairs I’ll paint more often and only being able to do a side at a time makes painting doors slow work.

Kitchen, Diningroom and Livingroom progress

This weekend was full of progress on various things. Friday our neighbor taped the diningroom (the part we can tape) and our contractor started on the cofferred ceiling boxes. On Saturday they both were installing the boxes and we have the sides on for most of the boxes (just the bump out part is left). This friday the plan is to finish up the front section and start on the bases of the boxes.

My project this weekend was to get the crown molding in the kitchen primed and then painted. It needs one more coat of paint but I got the initial coat on and the ceiling and wall touchups done. So one more coat and we can install the crown on top of the cabinets finally. While doing the crown, I primed the trim on the 2 doorways in the back hallway and I got a coat of paint on the window (so that needs just one more coat to be done now too). Coming along!

I also got the bathroom door sanded and primed, so now that needs 2 coats of paint and we can have privacy in our upstairs bathroom 🙂

Ryan worked on the front livingroom, first he finished up the trim on all the windows, they look great!

Next he framed out the archway to the front hall and started trimming that out. We’re back to the point of needing to strip some rosettes 🙂 And to do the other side of the arch we need to get some matching trim made so that’s on the list.

Archway – first he framed it in narrower so the switches don’t interfere with trim, then he lined the inside with poplar and installed the first parts of the trim!

Finally he got started getting the plinth blocks installed so the baseboards can go in next. After baseboards it’s crown molding and wainscoting (shadow box style). There is a lot of finish work in this room but it will hopefully look great!

My focus is to finish the painting in the kitchen and the bit of baseboard installation (caps and quarter round) in there, then i’ll start the livingroom painting work (by then the trim should be installed and ready). So that should work out well! The diningroom won’t go too much further because we are leaving 1/2 the ceiling exposed for plumbing purposes but I do hope to do the exterior wall (install window trim) and maybe get that part painted at least? Fun stuff!

Window trim!

Another great weekend of house progress. Our contractor and our neighbor were over Friday and Saturday, they got the sheetrock finished in the diningroom (the part we can do), the first round of taping in the upstairs hallway (and stairwell!) finished and the archway in the livingroom stripped the rest of the way! Woohoo!

This is the ceiling from the ground floor.

Then the real fun began. Ryan started working on the window trim in the livingroom. Saturday he made all the window sills (he actually made 2 for the diningroom too!), then he made and installed the filler strips, then installed the side pieces of molding and the window aprons on Sunday. The tops couldn’t be done because the rosettes had to be stripped.

Window trim! And you can see the arch here too.

Check out all those windows just waiting for rosettes and top pieces!

Which brings us to my participation. I stripped all the rosettes for the livingroom Sunday afternoon (that was 12 total) – fun stuff 🙂 So many left to go though still!

And my final participation this weekend was getting the crown molding sanded in the kitchen, ready to be primed. I also finished sanding the trim in the back hallway around the doors. The mini hallway outside the bathroom still needs sanding but I ran out of time.

Another little project got completed as well, the outlet in the microwave cabinet cut-out got in-set (Ryan cut out the piece of cabinet and sheetrock so I could install the outlet back about an inch). The means the microwave fits nicely now (the plug sticks out so far the microwave wouldn’t fit nicely. So now I just have to wire that outlet to the panel box and paint and install the nice trim we have for the outside of the cutout. Then we’ll have our microwave installed permanently as originally planned. Can’t wait!

I’m hoping to focus on finishing the kitchen as much as the front livingroom. Our main goal is to have a playroom, finished kitchen and almost finished? front hall before Alex’s birthday part! We’ll see!

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.

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!

Merry Christmas!

Since we used the front livingroom I thought I’d share the picture from Christmas Eve…

Livingroom sheetrocked!

Our contractor continued to come work on the livingroom the week before Christmas, getting the 1/2 walls built, the beam up and helping my neighbor sheetrock on Friday. Everything was moved to the basement (well most tools were), and the room was cleaned up. All in time to use the room for Christmas!

On monday I got the room cleaned up, vacuumed, mopped etc. Then Tuesday we got the tree and set it up – Christmas Eve 🙂 The room has been a great play room and it’s not even finished yet! We’ll empty it back out next week, and start the process of getting it finished! Counting down the weeks now I hope!