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Molding and more

A late start today and a trip to home depot but we still managed to get quite a bit done.

First we got the door frame installed, it needs to be firred out for various reasons (we changed the wall to 2×4 instead of 2×3 and we used the layer of cedar all the way up to the frame so the trim will go over that). So the frame is installed and the door pretty much fits 🙂 Somehow the frame shrunk a bit, it was probably put together loosely and we tightened it up with screws but we can shave down the door just a bit and it will fit great. Plus multiple layers of paint doesn’t help.

Then we put up the crown molding! Once that was up I got the final coat of joint compound on the ceiling (helps to hide any gaps from the molding).

DSCN1436 — Molding up and last coat of joint compound finished on ceiling!

Then I stripped the parts of the door frame that needed to be cleaned up before we could fir it out. And finally I proceeded to sand down the floor (slow to do with just an orbital but it’s a small floor).

DSCN1427 — Just getting started - this gives an idea what we were dealing with originally.

DSCN1428 — Rough sand (40 grit) finished!

DSCN1431 — Second pass with a finer grit finished and we're on to the next step.

Once the floor was done we put up the firring strips on the door frame so we could install the plinth blocks and the quarter round. We need quarter round to close up the gap from the floor to wall and we decided to clear coat the quarter round along with the floor so we installed it as the next step.

DSCN1432 — Ryan's plinth blocks and the start of the quarter round.

DSCN1433 — And quarter round finished (ryan did a great job coping both the quarter round and the crown molding!)

Finally a finer sand on the floor and quarter round then a coat of poly that can dry over night.

DSCN1441 — Clear Satin coat on (leftover poly from the gym final coat)

The plan is to do the ceiling in the mornings (sand/prime tomorrow, paint wednesday) and a coat of poly on the floor at night. Since the humidity finally broke i’m optimistic this will work out – we’ll see! Our ultimate goal is to sand down the cedar walls and install the closet system on friday before heading to NY – we’ll see how this all goes.

During the day Tues, Wed we’ll work on window panels. Not ambitious at all 🙂 Thursday the cousins are over for the day so we’ll be taking a much needed day off, plus this weekend we’ll have time to relax back in NY.

Tomorrow is our anniversary so after a long day at work we’re going out to a nice dinner. Now it’s off to bed, i’m exhausted!

Cedar

My dad gave us some used cedar that he had planed down a while back. It turned out to be just enough to finish our entire master closet! There were some splits and rough areas to cut around but in general it was in great shape and we were able to use a lot of the split/scrap pieces on the short sections by the door.

So after putting a skim coat on the ceiling this morning we got to work on the cedar walls. By 5pm we were done! In plenty of time to get cleaned up and head out to Chunky’s for dinner and a movie (went to see The Help – which was great!).

DSCN1417 — A view of the back wall finished.

It’s very hard to photograph a closet – so these are the best shots I could get of the wall with the door (also finished).

Great progress for a 3 day weekend! I’m going to do a second skim coat on the ceiling tonight before bed and a final coat in the morning.

So far the cost of this closet remodel is the cheapest project we’ve done so far:

demolition = $12
wood for reframing door = $18
drywall = $13 (mostly scraps)
cedar = $0
joint compound = $7

So far so good! Although the closet system we picked out will cost plenty, all in all this will be a relatively cheap remodel compared to the rest of the house.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to sand the cedar walls to smooth them out just a bit and we’re going to put up a molding at the top since the cedar didn’t butt up tightly all the way around. We also hope to work on the diningroom window panels tomorrow. Can’t wait!

The start of vacation!

It’s that time of year again -our August work on the house stay-cation. We started out pretty strong too.

Main goal this week is to get the window panels finished (diningroom ones) and secondary goal is to make progress on the closet (master bedroom).

Friday we started out strong, I managed to finally vacuum the house and we demolished the wall between the closet and our bedroom (there was significant prep work involved in moving stuff out of the bedroom and protecting things from dust). Then we started reframing the closet door (to center it).

DSCN1344 — Demolition of closet completed

The day flew by but we managed to keep it all clean (dump run before it closed got rid of the plaster and lathe). Today we continued the closet work, finishing the door framing and putting up new firring strips on the ceiling (the original ones were all over the place). Then we used our scrap drywall pieces and started drywalling the closet.

DSCN1403 — Door moved to center and firring strips in.

DSCN1406 — Ceiling up! (That was definitely the hard part!)

DSCN1409 — Last piece o f drywall going in

We ended up needing to buy 2 pieces of drywall (just 4×8) to finish the closet and I ended the night by taping the ceiling and a few of the larger seams. The walls are going to be covered in cedar so we’re not really finishing them but the ceiling will get a skim coat I’ve decided. (I’m not very good at doing just seams).

Tomorrow we’ll get a skim coat on the ceiling and start with the cedar boards on the walls. We’ll see how that goes and what the weather is like for the week. We still need to get out and finish window panels but it would be nice to also finish the closet just about.

Last Weekend

Besides taking part of the weekend off to relax last weekend (I was very un-motivated!) we did manage to get some house projects done.

Ryan sanded a few more of the cupola windows after I finished filling the nail holes at the top. While he did the sanding I worked on stripping the post attached to the house. When I finished the stripping I caulked the windows he had sanded. We still have 1 1/2 more windows left to sand and caulk before we can prime them all.

We removed the trim around the bottom of the post, Ryan’s Dad is building us new post bottoms and we’ll want to use the same trim from those on the 2 posts that are staying (attached to the house). I can’t wait to see this all primed up and then painted!

Baby Jason Update

Last week I took a half day off to go out and visit my nephew! He is growing so fast – he’s over 7lbs now! We spent Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning just hanging out…

DSCN1354 — Let's try some tummy time (this lasted about 5 seconds) 🙂

DSCN1369 — Even the monkey came out to play

This past weekend we went back to NY to see family and babies (although not my nephew). We met our friends’ new baby Landon, I went to a baby shower, and we saw our nieces! Fitz also got to run around my parent’s yard and watch out for bears (although he didn’t see any this time).

Celtic Compass

I’ve been continuing to work on Celtic Banner when I have free time and it’s coming right along! I had to take a picture before I scrolled so I could complete the compass. This is my progress as of Sunday night.

My goal is to finish the compass before putting this piece down and getting back to Autumn (probably just in time for Autumn).

Cupola Window Panels

What a LONG weekend! Somehow we managed to get everything done from the weekend checklist – that’s almost unheard of since my lists are so long 🙂

Saturday we started the day with a dump run – so the unseemly pile of wood at the front of our house was reduced more than 1/2 at least 🙂 When we got back we started on the Cupola Window Panels again. Our goal was to get everything under the windows (from the caps down) done – and we managed it! We even put on the final window cap piece (which we had to make).

Today we got started on the panels above the window caps, the first piece has an angle cut (since it runs along the window cap) so we started with that one. At lunch we went to home depot to get a few things (ran out of glue for one) and when we came home Ryan’s back was bothering him.

At this point I didn’t think I’d be able to finish the panels by myself (even though there was very little left) so when I saw my neighbor selling some kitchen shelves at his tag sale I bought them (deal!) and moved everything out of my cabinets that we plan to tear down. The kitchen re-org is always a fun one!

When that was done it was still early so i decided to try finishing the panels on my own – and I did it! They are completely done – and most of the holes (below the window caps) have been filled.

Not that they are really completed (obviously) but the hard part is done! What’s left?

Finishing filling nail holes
Sand down the panels
Caulk the panels (especially inside the panels)
Prime/Paint the panels
Install the decorative molding inside the panels and caulk/paint it

So plenty left to do but all in all a great weekend. Now the dog is whining for his long walk so off I go!

Herb quilt

Yesterday I worked from home because I had a cold, in the evening ryan had ZBA so I pulled out my herb quilt which just needed borders and got that finished up.

Borders are my least favorite part of quilting so it’s nice to have it done enough to plan out the quilting part now. Since this piece has stitching I’m not going to do much more than in the ditch quilting, although the border has lots of room for some free-style. This gives me the perfect excuse to buy the walking foot for my machine though 🙂

Feeling much better today so I’m taking advantage of the extra hours at home (no commute today either) to catch up one work.

Working Hard

It’s hard working at the office all day 🙂

Busy weekend

We got a lot done this weekend! Saturday was a short day because we had a dinner obligation up in Concord but we did manage to go car shopping and I got a new car! I got a 2011 Acura RDX which is a crossover SUV. It’s nice and small so it’s easy to drive and it handles just like the Audi. It’s got some great features (still have my heated seats and sunroof!) but now I also have USB input (for ipods), bluetooth connectivity for my phone, backup camera and more storage space.

I do plan to get a remote starter installed before winter, but for now we’re going without that feature (I think it will be cheaper to get it installed elsewhere than through the dealer).

Today we worked on window panels, the dogs got the run of the porch again and unlike Fitz who mostly hides upstairs when we’re working on the house, Buddy likes to follow us around, not at all bothered by the saws running. Just wags his tail every time we talk to him 🙂

The window panels are really coming along. We started with the window caps on the cupola. We still have the very top piece of those that we need to make, but we got the first 2 cap pieces made and installed all the way around! Then the sill we installed almost all the way around (one small piece left). Finally we worked on the lower boxes and finished those all the way around. Since it’s hard to explain, here are the pics.

DSCN1323 — The second and third windows now have full panels except for the very top box.

DSCN1322 — 2 pieces of the cap go all the way around the cupola now.

DSCN1321 — Bottom boxes are done all the way around and the sill is almost done.

DSCN1319 — The first window is completely done!

And here are the boys, it’s been a long day (hah!) and they are cuddled up in the A/C. Buddy doesn’t even try to cuddle with me on days like this when we’re home all day. If we’re gone all day he likes to come up on the couch and cuddle. He’s been very good being left alone though, I’ve got my camera on them and they mostly sleep with interruptions to bark at strange noises (buddy) 🙂 I’m so happy they get along so well, I love having 2 dogs!