Day 50

We have drywall completed in our kitchen! 

I can't wait to see what it will look like with primer and paint on the walls.

We also had him cover up the hole in the wall that had a mirror in it.

I guess it was a knick knack shelf or something, but I thought it was pretty pointless.  Now we need to get the rest of the wood floor in!

Day 45

We have running water in the basement bathroom again!  I just had to start with that because I'm really excited about that. (It's been ten days!)

Jason and our plumber, Craig, worked really hard all day today to get the water running again.  There is one leaky joint they have to replace tomorrow, but other than that, we have all new copper plumbing!  You can definitely tell the difference in the water pressure.  I can't wait for that first shower!

Now people taller than 5 feet can comfortably enjoy a shower in this stall!

The drywall guy is still working on the drywall in the kitchen as well.

We carved some sweet pumpkins!  (not remodeling related but noteworthy, in my opinion.)  Here we have the Joker and Michael Jackson from Thriller.  

Day 41

Walls!

Look how nice the beam looks!  

Day 40

We have a ceiling in our kitchen! 

Tomorrow we should have some walls!  It's starting to look like a room again!  

Day 39

More plumbing pictures!  All the iron pipes that we're taking out are removed from the house, and Jason just has to finish installing the copper stuff. 

This is the hole that is right next to my head when I sleep at night.  The basement bathroom is on the other side of this wall.

This is the shower.  That piece used to be part of it, and you can see where it used to be attached.  I'm really glad Jason is replacing it, because it was pretty annoying to operate.  I know these aren't the most enthralling posts, but tomorrow should be a good one!  You'll have to check back tomorrow to find out what we're doing!  

Day 38

Jason worked all day with the plumber. 

Among other things, they replaced the main galvanized vent and sink drain with PVC.  It will be a lot easier to hide with our cabinets, and it should also work a lot better.

  

That picture speaks for itself!  

Day 37

Thank you all for keeping us on task!  I like that we get phone calls when I haven't posted in a while, because it helps us stay motivated and moving forward.  We have actually been working hard, though it is a little hard to tell. 

This picture gives you an idea.  Everything is a mess!  We had the electrician back over to put in the wiring for the island (yellow wire coming out of the floor) and when he removed a piece of subflooring, we noticed that the plumbing is right underneath!  Everyone has been telling us that plumbing is easier to reach by going through the basement ceiling.  Our house has some copper pipes, but still some galvanized steel, and we've always been meaning to replace it after we finished upstairs.  One project at a time, right Raquel?  Yet since we saw that it would be very easy to reach them by pulling up a few subflooring floorboards, we decided to do it.  Jason has been working with a handyman recommended by friends for the last few days, and he's been learning a lot about plumbing.  

 

Here are some copper pipes that Jason put in yesterday.  He still has to replace those galvanized pieces.  It is annoying that the water is off to the downstairs bathroom now, so I have to run upstairs all the time through the construction zone, but it will be fantastic when it is done!  This is what I keep telling myself.  

Day 33

Progress, little by little...

Jason framed the other corner of the fireplace hearth much faster tonight than the first side.  But this time, he knew how to do it! 

Day 32

This corner was the bane of our existence tonight.  Jason had to cut a very thin piece and then cut these other pieces at 45 degree angles.  It was very difficult, but I'm so proud of Jason for figuring it out on his own.  Even though I was frustrated and wanted to quit, and even though Jason is exhausted from working on the floor in the closet all day, he insisted that we finish this corner.  Doesn't it look lovely?  

Day 30

Here we are, 30 days in!  We're not as far as I expected we would be, but we encountered several issues that slowed us down.  All in all, I think we're still making good progress.  

Jason and I worked on the floors!  It is like a puzzle deciding which pieces of wood go where.  This tool I'm holding shoots nails into the floor, and you have to hit it really hard with the sledge.  It is another great tool to borrow (thanks Don!).  In this picture, Jason gears up to hit it and I'm trying to stand clear!   It is easier for Jason to get a good hit if I hold it, rather than trying to hold it with one hand.

 

Jason cuts the floor boards to size with a table saw (thanks Craig F!).  This tool is a little intimidating to me.

 

Jon came over to admire the work and got roped into helping!  Actually, I think he enjoyed hitting the nail tool with the sledge.   We appreciate his help. 

 Jon really enjoys the sledge! 

Day 29

I was just enjoying this view and thought I would share it.  Our basement is a walk out, and this is the view  from my couch through our crazy overgrown backyard.  I like how you can see the lights of buildings in the distance.  We plan to put a deck and french doors off the dining room someday, which we think would offer a beautiful western view of sunsets.  And I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but it snowed today!  Can you believe it?

Day 28

Jason worked some more on the floors today.  Mike came over and helped him a little more.  We will probably spend a lot of time working on it this weekend! 

Day 27

Jason started working on the floors!  Mike came over yesterday and showed him how to do it. 

I think it will look fantastic!  Jason says it isn't very easy, unfortunately.

Scott pretends to help so he can be in a picture.  

Day 25

Today, we hired a company to blow in insulation in all of the exterior walls without insulation.  That would be all of the exterior walls.  Did people not get cold in the 50's? 

I expected there to be huge holes in the walls for us to repair, but I don't think we'll notice these at all when we paint!

What we WILL notice are the gashes in our beloved dining room furniture!  We have our dining room set in the garage while we are finishing our renovation.  Jason told the insulators that he would be happy to move anything upstairs if they needed him to do so, since he was practicing downstairs.  They DIDN'T ask him to do that.  Instead, they dragged two chairs stacked on top of each other across the cement, gouging the top of the upside down chair!!!!  We're livid!!!  Their boss agreed to give us $200 for the damage, but we'd still rather have our pristine chair back.

 

On a happier note, we still managed to get some things done today.  We hung the plastic over the insulation in the kitchen, and shop vacuumed all the plaster and such from the slats in the subflooring.

 

Jason does the squeaky board dance.  He learned on the DIY network website that you should check for squeaky boards and screw new screws in those spots before you install the new flooring.   He's so well read.  I think we're ready to start on the wood floor!  We'll see what Mike thinks tomorrow. 

 

Day 24

We got a lot done today!  The landscaper told us he wanted us to remove all the weeds/plants along the south side of the house before he brings the crew over. 

Most of our backyard looks like this also.  No one lived here for a while before we moved in. 

Who knew there was a path here?

The electrician finished the "rough in,"
 including the installation of our can lighting!  We also hung the insulation. 

We're still itchy, but we think it looks pretty good. 

Day 23

Our electrician gave Jason a project to do this weekend.  We are putting in can lighting in the kitchen, and he wanted Jason to cut the holes in the plaster for the cans.  Our electrician said the plaster will crack all over the place when we do that, so he recommended that we put a 1/4 inch layer of drywall over the plaster.  I was disappointed that the plaster couldn't be saved, but we want it to look right, of course.  Mike came over this morning and convinced us that it would be far nicer looking if we just destroyed the plaster ceiling all together. 

So that is what we did today.  And we thought we were done with plaster demolition!  (That isn't a wire noose by the way, it just looks like it.)  It actually didn't take very long to get it down.  Jason crawled up in the crawl space above the kitchen and hammered it down from above. 

It took FAR longer to clean up all the nasty insulation and plaster pieces.  Looks like another dumpster is in our future!  

Day 22

Today, Jason installed the water line for the fridge.  We have a fridge that came with the house that was upstairs.  We moved it downstairs with the help of Eric and Jon.  They had to remove the fridge doors, but in the end they succeeded.  Of course, we needed it hooked up to the water line so we can have ice and water in the door (to make drinks!).  

That's a picture of the water line that Jason installed.  I don't know how he figures out how to do this stuff.  It does NOT leak. 

Our cat Tosca made it into this picture!  She is enjoying the fridge also.  

Day 20

Yay, I have internet at home again!  It took a few days to transfer our internet to our new house.  In the meantime, the electrician has been working every day on our mess of a kitchen. 

We also have officially moved out of the rental house.  

Seeing the house all empty seemed a little sad.  We both felt reminiscent as we walked through the empty rooms.  We'll miss you beautiful woodwork!

 

Oh, how many notes we've played in this room!

And dear little kitchen, how we ....... won't miss you.