Ryan’s parents came out for the weekend and I’m truly still in shock from the progress we made today. Based on the progress we had been making I thought we’d be doing demolition into the week nights this week but with the 4 of us going all day we got it all done! And I really mean ALL done – more than planned!
The diningroom completely gutted!Facing the livingroomThe front hall - DONE!The Demolition Magician and his wife 🙂The stairway - DONE!Another view - facing down the stairs.The hallway facing our bedroom door.The top of the stairsFacing down the stairs into the front hallThe archway from the front hall to the livingroom.
It really is amazing, all the demolition is done and cleaned up, all in time to get cleaned up ourselves and go out for a birthday dinner at Denny’s (French Toast!).
Tomorrow is the last day of our vacation, we’ll definitely take some time to relax. I’m looking forward to getting the house cleaned up and the tools moved into the new demolished area and out of our close to finished rooms! If we have time we may even start grouting the bathroom.
Rain and plaster do not mix! Demolition was slow today because it was very hard to clean up and we like to clean up as we go. I did manage to demo the wall behind the hallway radiator so we could put that back in.
One more wall done
We also made some progress in the diningroom as planned. We removed all the trim and started in on the walls and ceiling.
Diningroom built-in wall all done
You can tell when I do the demo because I can only reach about 5′ up the wall 🙂
Progress on the windowsI leave the ceiling work to ryanAnd the pile of de-nailed trim grows!
Tomorrow Ryan’s parents are coming out. We’re looking forward to some company. Demolition progress will depend on the weather but we can start grouting the bathroom now if we have time.
Most people clean their windows during spring cleaning, we replace ours 🙂 Demolition is under way and today we finished up the livingroom and made some more progress on the front hallway.
livingroom is now storage for the couchesfacing the diningroomfacing the front hallFront hall progress
This morning we went out and bought crown molding and bed molding (for the baseboards) for the gym. I primed the crown molding so we can put it up tomorrow. I also got the final coat of paint on the ceiling of the gym in preparation for crown molding as well.
Crown molding all primed
Tomorrow we’ll hit the diningroom as best we can and maybe start the crown molding in the gym!
It was sad – starting demolition again, just as we’re getting to the finishing stages on the original 3 rooms, we’re taking 3 new rooms from livable down to studs 🙁 Alas, it must be done! One step back, 3 steps forward!
Today we started demolition in earnest. We removed the trim we plan to save/refinish in the front hall and the livingroom. Then we started removing the plaster and lathe. We made pretty good progress and quit around 5pm to go out to dinner with Uncle Mark, Aunt Mo and Hannah (birthday dinner).
The livingroom cupula before demoand after todaylivingroom entryway beforeand afterfacing diningroom beforeand aftertrim removed and de-nailed
We also worked on the front hall – removing trim but I’ll save the pictures for tomorrow when hopefully there’s more hallway demolition to show. All in all it was a good day, depressing to see our usable rooms turn into work zones but good because phase 2 is really starting.
The plan is to finish up the livingroom and put a dent in the front hallway. Then we’ll move the covered furniture out of the diningroom (into the livingroom) and commence demo in the diningroom. We’ve got a few more days of vacation – lets hope the good weather continues!
We got an early start this morning because the Dumpster arrived early. Unfortunately they couldn’t put the dumpster in the front where we wanted it so we’ll be trekking debris all the way to the back again 🙁
The day was very productive! Ryan started out by getting to work on the tile floor in the bathroom. He cut the threshold/saddle piece we bought yesterday and then started the slow process of tiling/cutting/tiling by himself.
Before tiling begins
While ryan cut the threshold piece I filled the nail holes on the trim.
Trim nail holes all filledThreshold piece all cut
Here is the floor all finished – notice the new oak flooring patched in. We’ll add a piece of quarter round on the hall side of the threshold when we finish the hallway/kitchen area.
All finished!
While ryan was tiling I painted the Gym Ceiling…
The gym ceiling - first coat of paint
Then i got the livingroom and diningroom ready for demo – which meant a lot of moving things upstairs and some pushing things out of the way 🙂
All ready for demo
Next up I started removing trim in the front hall.
Trim removed
Once ryan was done tiling we decided to put the first coat of paint on the gym walls. It’s a very bright orange color so earlier I had painted a small section to see how it looked dry. Ryan finally admitted he was okay with the color (the color makes me happy) so we ended the day painting the room ‘Torchlight’!
First coat of paint - torchlight - in the gym
Now we’re going to call it a night – it’s still early so we’re going to get some dinner and watch one of the movies I got for my birthday from Aimee, Jason, PJ and Erica .. haven’t decided which one yet to watch!
A day of doing nothing – always great! I got Ryan 2 new movies for his birthday – Where the Wild Things Are and Sherlock Holmes. So the main goal for the day was to watch both and go out for dinner at Bugaboo. Mission accomplished!
Here’s Ryan’s main birthday gift:
A new tablesaw 🙂
Now we’ve settled in with Sherlock Holmes and Ryan’s enjoying his birthday dessert:
birthday cake
Tomorrow the dumpster comes – oh demolition here we come!
We started out the day getting the trim up in the bathroom – I got it sanded down and Ryan put it up.
Ryan installing new plinth blocksPutting up the trim I stripped downThe left side trim up
Once the trim was up Ryan started tiling. He had to do all the tiling himself so it was up and down to/from the basement to cut the tiles 🙂 While he did this I primed the gym and started stripping the bathroom door.
Tiling up the wall on the rightThe right side done in time for a lunch breakTiling up the left sideThe wall tile complete! And the door I started to strip.
And here’s what I did during the tiling project 🙂
Gym - all primed!Another view
Tomorrow is Ryan’s birthday. We plan to take it easy most of the day. Ryan may tile the bathroom floor but we have to find a threshold/saddle first – we didn’t like the ones at home depot but Lowe’s selection wasn’t much better so we may have to go with what Home Depot had.
We decided to start our vacation with a day of relaxing so we slept in. When we finally got going we decided to do some shopping. We went to home depot to buy Ryan’s birthday gift (although he’s not allowed to play with it until Monday so I’ll save the picture until then).
Then we went to Lowe’s to buy some sconces for the bathroom, we’re still not 100% sure these are what we want (we’ve already returned another set that didn’t work out to match our faucet). Finally we went to another home depot to get what is essentially my birthday gift – a stand for the compound miter saw. I’m so tired of using up a pair of saw horses to hold it and I can’t move it at all. This new stand is awesome.
New Chop saw stand
Finally we came back home and I did some organizing, cleaning up. I got the tools organized and moved around (preparing for demolition this week). Then after a dinner break I got to work stripping the trim for the bathroom door while Ryan worked. It took me from 8pm until midnight but I got the trim all stripped down. I just need to sand it in the morning and we can put it up before finishing up the tile!
Trim for the bathroom all stripped down
A good first day of vacation, that’s for sure… tomorrow.. tiling!
There has been no house progress this week so far – for a couple of reasons. First – we’ve both been working LONG days/nights at work. Second – I’ve come down with a cold which means when I’m home I’m generally sleeping. And finally – next week we are taking a vacation from work to work on the house! We decided to take the week of our birthdays off and both relax and work on the house.
The plan so far:
– Finish tiling the bathroom and get the door trim up (now that the door is in place!)
– Grout the bathroom
– Grind the stumps where I want to put my veggie garden
– DEMO! Part II of the house renovations begins next week – this includes the Front Hall, the Livingroom and Diningroom! I can’t wait.
So stay tuned. Also coming soon – a picture tour of the outside of our house and property (by request). I will take pictures this weekend if the weather cooperates and put something together on the site next week!
We had a relaxing weekend with family mixed in with some work on the house. Today was a very long day for myself and I’m curled up on the couch finally, just counting down the minutes until I can fall asleep!
Friday my parents came out in the afternoon. Dad and Ryan made a door frame for the bathroom and hung the door. Dad continued to work on the door, finally even fixing the latch so a door that didn’t work before now works perfectly with the original hardware! I still need to strip down the door. bathroom door (definitely needs to be stripped)
Saturday we spent the day and evening with the extended family. We had dinner over at Uncle Pete’s with everyone. It’s been 3 months since we all got together so there was a lot of catching up to do.
Sunday my siblings headed out after a late morning breakfast. Dad continued to fix doors (the upstairs bathroom this time) so they close correctly now. I got the gym sanded so Dad could take home his scaffolding. gym all sanded - ready for primer
After Mom and Dad left we changed the oil in the both the car and truck (went a little long on that one!). The I cleaned the house (since i’m allergic to dogs I generally clean after everyone leaves instead of before they come 🙂 ). Finally I finished the night by vacuuming the gym so it’s ready to be primed. I’m exhausted, having started my morning with a run with PJ, I ache everywhere by now!
