blah blah blah, did some work, blah blah
we're past the point of apologizing for the long delay in posts. it's not that we don't care about the readers as much as it is that we don't care to admit it's been a month since we really did anything to the house except more firmly entrench the butt prints in the couch.
so we've done some entrenching, add to that a few windows, a door and some cabinets and one can see that we really have made profress. We got the deal of the century at the Habitat Outlet for our bathroom cabinets.
An almost 80% discount got us some really cool cabinets with a few owies. Mark's master craftsmanship has repaired the top of the linen hutch and we're a bit stuck on how to fix the medicine cabinets.
We've also replaced the front window to the house and now we can see! there is a world out there. we thought so.
This past weekend we replaced the front door and had a generally less than fun time with that project. The old door was made out of depleted uranium, dust and pointy things. All together that makes for one heavy, hurty, dirty door. The new door looks bueno and will eventually get painted when we decide what color to make the house.
next up, add trim to everything we just replaced. After that, replace the window that mark broke in the office.
movin right along
This weekend we decided that our nice open living room just wasn't what we wanted. We miss teh obstacle course after so many months of cabinets, tile, lumber and no one knows what else in the living room. To make ourselves feel more at home we opened a new can of worms (an old dusty can). Now the living room is properly cluttered again.
This weekend we hauled all of the crap out of the office and threw it around the living room. We've got the drywall patching done and much of the office painted. There's still some pretty pink trim that needs to make the transition to white and a few dents and dings in the ceiling, but we're on the way. This week should bring more painting and before long we'll be putting up crown moulding. Once the walls are painted we'll get the desk top in and some shelves.
Other recent projects include the addition of electricity to one side of the living/dining area and the starts of the wiring for the rest of the space. That shouldn't be a tough project but it does involve one or more trips into the depths of the crawl space. We'll wait for the triple digit temps to go down a bit before going back in there.
pain and suffering
We have more progress to report!
The tile is almost all the way done. We just have a little patch by the back door/bathroom and a small bit of grout to do. We'll have to figure out the bathroom situation before moving forward with the last patch of tile.
This weekend we got most of the grout in and it looks fantastic. It dried about 5 shades lighter than we thought it would, but that actually looks great. We were thinking the grout would be a tanish color and it dried more of a light kahki. Fortunately the grout went in easily and should seal up nicely so we can get the dishwasher in place tonight or tomorrow.
Last night we replaced the column that hides the wiring for the bar lights and the under cabinet lights and did the last of the needed leveling for the counters.
Counters come on the 6th and that will be a happy day. We need to doa little drywall work before then and get some trim on the windows. Once the counters are in all we'll have to do is put the doors on the cabinets, hook up the sink and hang the microwave. Stay tuned for more.
The cabinets are in!
Three days of hard work and the kitchen is starting to take shape.
Before
Lessons learned
Fun lessons for your next rennovation project:
- when you buy a replacement trap or any plastic compression joint take the little tapered plastic gaskets that comes with the pipes and loop them into a necklace. it's a great present for mom - she'll love you like she did when you were little and cute and her new necklace stops as much water as putting the gasket into the compression nut. After basking in mom's adoration, go to Ace and buy a real rubber gasket for each nut, put that in there and have a no-leak job every time.
- The drill bits made for drilling masonry by the people (tapcon) who make things specifically for screwing into masonry aren't even remotely as durable as the ones made by Bosch. They're also more expensive. Additionally as a reminder, if the drill bit went into the hole silver and comes out blueish black it is now hot enough to cause you to say bad things and lose your ballance on the ladder - don't touch it.
- you want a hammer drill for tempered bricks. we already knew this, but really, you want a hammer drill. Don't waste time and money thinking something else will work, it won't.
- adding hot water to your powdered joint compound because the cold water is turned off is a good way to have a rather solid glob of joing compound that you can't work with. Use cold water if you need the joint compound to be workable for more than 3 minutes.
- If you spill the PVC glue in the basement you should leave the house for at least a weak or have a handy supply of long reeds so you can breathe air from outside the house. Before such a spill you should write down your name and address so you know who you are once you regrow the brain cells lost in the experiment.
