Carpeting

Well, the new carpeting is in.   I have some data wiring to complete, but that is coming along as well.   Thanks to Cheri, we have a few new pictures to share.

Come in the Door and go up the newly carpeted stairs.

The Front Bedroom is done... still some work needed on the data cable there, but I've been working on them as I find the time.

Here's looking out of the front bedroom toward the Master Bedroom

Looking in the Master Bedroom - we had a visitor!

Actually... more than one visitor.

The Girls were having fun with our closet organizer shelves before we got them hung.

Meanwhile.. downstairs, the guest bedroom is almost ready for guests.

As is the guest bath.

Meanwhile, we've cleaned up the floors in the living and dining room, only to find they were in pretty rough shape as far as the finish is concerned.   That's tonight's project.   I'm going to try to get a couple of coats of poly on them.  That will take 24 hours to dry and almost a full week to "cure" but we will still be able to move into the bedroom upstairs (after tomorrow) as well as get things moved into the basement.   We won't have time to move furniture into the living / dining room until after next week anyway.

Pasties

We couldn't resist.   The kitchen is close enough to being done, that  when we had to make Pasties (a traditional Welsh meal) for the Eleven-Eleven club lunch, I decided we should do it at 414.   We had cleaned up the kitchen last night, and decided to give the stove a whirl.

The Washer & Dryer in position

The rest of the house is coming along well.  Final woodwork is being stained for later installation (thanks Jonathon!)  A few windows and doorways to stain in place, some walls to repair (three) painting to do (two rooms) and we are ready to move in!  (That of course, discounts the cleaning that has to occur, and the carpet for the stairs / upstairs which is to occur the week after next.)   Meanwhile, we should be able to move into the downstairs (kitchen and guest bedroom) as soon as we can clean and find time.

Pictoral Update - Getting closer

I finally took some time to take pictures.  Lots of detail work / painting yet to do, but the final cupboard should have been delivered today, so beginning Monday, things should start happening to finish the kitchen and the addition.

Coming up the back hall.

 

 

 

 

 

Island toward the dining room.

 

 

 

 

I know... but I LIKE white appliances!

A functioning downstairs bathroom!

The walk in shower with Rain shower head.

Meanwhile on the way upstairs....

The dining room - KILZed(tm)

The living room in similar condition.  No more "smokey gray".

The place doesn't smell of smoke anymore....  just KILZ.

The final door (the closet in the closet door) being prepared.

The view in the other direction.  Baseboard trim and the window trim yet to go.

Pictures say a Thousand words

Unfortunately, I haven't taken any pictures lately!    Past time to do so.   Perhaps later today.  But an update on what has been done / not done.

Most of the kitchen cupboards are in.  One was MIA and should arrive the end of this week.  That has pretty much stopped work on the addition as we can't finish much of anything else there until it arrives.  When it comes, the counter can go down, which contains the sink so the plumbers can come back and hook it up, then the dishwasher can be hooked up, and once the plumbers / heating guys are here, the registers will be installed so the carpenters can finish the trim.. and on the cycle goes.

Meanwhile, we (thank you Kay and Terri!) put on a coat of Kilz (8 gallons) on virtually ALL the remaining unpainted walls and ceilings.   That means the living room, the dining room the hall to the upstairs, and the final upstairs bedroom / office.  We even did the hallway to the basement and two closets.   For those of you who never got the original tour, we used Kilz for one specific reason.  The previous owners were heavy smokers and the place reeked!   If you don't seal it in, that smell keeps coming out for years on end.  You have to use oil based Kilz as well.  Over 8 hours straight of painting, but it's done!

Now I have to go back and tap out and repair some cracks before the final coats of paint can come.  Lighting and fans are up in the upstairs bedroom as are all the rest of the electrical outlets.  I still have to finish off the Data outlets in five locations, as well as the central location in the basement.  We also have done nothing to the porch yet, but that will come.

Strangely enough, we must be getting closer, because I'm reluctant to take pictures because things are such a mess.   That didn't used to matter, so apparently we're seeing an end!

From floors to ceilings & walls

After a bit of a pause (lots of stuff happening in the background) visual changes are beginning again at 414 Main with more to come this week.   The flooring is down in the kitchen, new bedroom, and new bathroom.  The vanity, vanity light, sink, and toilet are ready to be installed in the new bathroom.  The doors and trim are ready for the addition.   All the kitchen cupboards are ready and waiting to be installed. (That was supposed to start today, but hopefully will start tomorrow.)  Appliances are ready to be delivered and installed later this week (assuming we are ready for them.)  The freezer has been moved from basement to basement.   We've had insulation blown in all walls that we couldn't get to to insulate in any other way.   Those holes are now filled.

Carport.

Kitchen Flooring is down and ready for cabinets.

New Bedroom floor is down (Thanks Jonathon!)

Meanwhile, upstairs, the master bedroom walls and ceilings have been finished.  They are now painted but these pictures were taken with only the primer on.   I ran out of non-tinted primer and finished with some pink.   People asked me about an accent wall.  Don't worry, it didn't happen.  Ceiling is white, and the walls are "Poetic Justice" aka beige.

Now we are ready for a return trip from Electricians, plumbers, and general contractor.  If they get back this week, we'll have a kitchen that works, a usable bedroom, and two fully functional bathrooms (one that will even have a door!)  Now if the LP people will just set and hookup the LP tank, we could actually have a furnace and (soon) a gas stove that work as well.

11 gallons - 16 hours

It's been all about paint over the past weekend, or at least mostly.   First some updates, then some pictures.   The electricians were finally able to get back over for a morning.  They checked over my wiring upstairs (at the inspectors request) and we are now ready to sheetrock the upstairs bedroom.  The upstairs bathroom vanity finally arrived, which means that the upstairs bathroom is now all put together, except for those pesky little details of door, and no electricity to that circuit.  We'll check out the waterworks when there is more than one person and a quiet house to hear a yell if there is problems.   I never like to turn on water by myself.   I did actually spend 16 hours between Saturday and Monday painting.   Some touch-up will be necessary, but essentially, the kitchen and addition are primed and painted.   Flooring goes down on Thursday, so the next important step is finishing the prep work on the floor.   The walk-in shower is tiled, and mostly grouted.  That will be finished up over the next couple of days.   Here's the pictoral update.

 Upstairs bathroom vanity

Downstairs bath and shower

Downstairs bedroom

Hallway into the kitchen area

Kitchen back toward the hall.

Thanks to Cheri for the photos!   I've haven't taken time to put anything in my hand besides a paint brush at 414 lately.

Catching up

Lots of changes since I last posted, but since some of those changes involved things that I was doing.. I haven't had the time to do much except fall into bed at night.  (Okay.. not true, there were at least two meals on the houseboat in there someplace.)   But I'll attempt to catch everyone up now.

 

On this particular day, the plumbers, electricians, both contractors and deliveries were happening at the same time.   The toilets were being delivered.  Unfortunately, one was shattered.  We're still waiting on delivery of a replacement.

 

Here's the basement, with a shot between the old and new.   As they always say, carpenters build walls, electricians and plumbers fill them full of holes.

 

Meanwhile, the walls in the addition have been added.   Here's a shot looking into the new bathroom and shower, and below, how it looks now with wallboard.

 

 

And here is a shot looking from the back corner of the downstairs bedroom to the hallway, the closet on the left, and old wood far right is the kitchen.   Below is a similar shot with the wallboard up.

 

 

I haven't take a new picture of this yet, but this is looking down the hallway toward the back door.

 

Upstairs, the closet is added for the bedroom.  Waiting on electrical inspections before we can close these walls in.   (Who knew that in Iowa, even a homeowner can't do electrical work on his primary residence without having inspections?*  other than to replace a fixture, switch, or plug).  Now the electrician has to make sure everything is up to code before we continue.

 The back of the house is getting close to being finished outside.   The carport needs to be poured and the driveway extended, as well as some more siding.   We're even thinking about adding steps out the back door to make it a bit more useful.