A House Break

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Had a little break from working on the house because we had some family weekends planned.  One weekend we went back to NY, then last weekend it was down to CT.  Alex got to play with all her cousins at various times and had a blast with Jason and baby Maddy both weekends.  This weekend we came home Saturday night so we had Sunday at home and I had a little project planned that I wanted to do.  I had some loam delivered Sunday morning so after we went to breakfast I raked the yard.  Then when Alex went down for a nap Ryan and I put some of the loam down in the low spots/uneven spots of the yard.  Then seeded it and watered it.  Now I just have to water it twice a day and hope grass actually grows and I haven’t ruined our lawn 🙂

This is what my backyard looks like …. patches of dirt.

I also have to keep Fitz off of it which means he’s going to need to actually be walked now and I can’t just put him out on the lead for the day.  Going to be a long couple of weeks 🙂

 

Vacation/Staycation

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We took this week off as a little vacation from work.  We don’t have major house renovations planned either for a change so it will mostly be relaxing.  However we couldn’t go an entire week doing absolutely nothing house related!  Monday was just beautiful out so we got the cars vacuumed and cleaned out (a little spring cleaning) and I got some toys organized after the toy-splosion that was Alex’s birthday party 🙂

Tuesday was a rainy day so we started off with a trip to home depot after dropping Alex off at daycare.  Then home to start demo in the front hall (taking up the floor and taking out the door frame).  Once that was done we put down a new subfloor of 1/2″ plywood on top of the existing old subfloor.  We plan to tile on top of this directly but we still need to install the closet door first.

New subfloor installed

Into the closet

No house worked planned tomorrow as we have day plans instead, maybe we’ll make some more progress on Thursday though!

 

Happy Birthday Alex

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breakfast cupcake 🙂

Mmmmmm…. whipcream!

My little boo is 2!

Birthday gift!

She gets an even bigger birthday gift but we aren’t setting it up until Friday night (it’s an 8′ trampoline we are going to put in the cupola!).  So for now she gets the bike and some puzzles 🙂  Luckily the front room is empty right now so it’s perfect for some tricycle riding!

Monday and Tuesday

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Monday I got the small hallways off the kitchen painted (the walls and ceiling final coats).  The trim still needs paint but the walls are finished and look much better matching the kitchen now!

Back hallway painted!

Bathroom hallway painted

Tuesday night I finished installing all the outlets (including cable/electrical ones) in the livingroom, diningroom and front hallway.  Then Ryan helped me install the hallway chandelier.

Chandelier is hung!

That’s it for actual house work until the party.  The rest of the week is party decoration/prep stuff!  Lots of cleaning and decoration making going on.

 

Sunday Funday

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Oh Sunday – such a ‘lazy’ day 🙂  We went out to breakfast per usual but this time with the whole gang.  Alex and Ryan got their haircut after breakfast and then home for some play time with the cousins.  At naptime Ryan’s parents headed home with the girls and I started hanging lights.  I got the fan in the livingroom and the light in the cupola hung.  After some lunch I also got the diningroom light hung.

Fan!

Light in the cupola

Diningroom chandelier

I also got the light at the bottom of the stairs hung (wanted to see how these would look since I’ve been holding on to them for 4 years!).  And started the chandelier in the front hallway but need a second pair of hands to hang this one!

Light in stairway (there are 3 that will go up the stairs eventually)

Chandelier, this did not come with shades so I just ordered some.

Ryan had to work all day Sunday so Alex and I did a little shopping in the afternoon, then went to the park and home for dinner.  She was up quite late so by the time I came downstairs I wasn’t up for much except making plans for the rest of the week.  I have a very busy week ahead!

And I got a picture of the last cabinet with molding on top that Ryan finished Saturday:

Cabinet moldings done!

 

 

 

Williams’ weekend

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It was a Williams’ family weekend!  Ryan’s parents brought my nieces out for the weekend to entertain Alex and we got plenty of painting done while the kids were happily playing together!  Added bonus, we got extra family time in!

Friday night everyone showed up in time for dinner, so we ate and played and by 8pm it was bedtime for Alex and the girls settled in for a movie.  Alex went down easy so I was able to get some painting done, and since we had already eaten dinner I had an early start!  I got all the ceilings painted (the small sections off the kitchen that needed a coat, the front hallway, the livingroom)!  First coat on those last 2 so they needed a final coat still.  Kitchen ceilings were done though.  And I was done by 10pm which is EARLY considering the rest of this week!

Saturday we got an early start since Grandma was there to handle breakfast for the kiddos.  I started by getting all the trim sanded while Ryan’s dad did the final coat on all the ceilings and then helped me finish sanding.  Ryan finished the moldings on the last cabinet so they are completely done now!

Once the sanding was done it was time to start painting the walls, Ryan’s dad and I got the first coat on the walls in both the livingroom and diningroom by lunch time.  Our neighbor was over and finished priming the ceiling boxes by lunch time.

Ceiling boxes all primed

Diningroom with 1 coat on trim, 2 coats on walls

After lunch my neighbor sanded and then primed the trim in the back hallways off  the kitchen (there was one small section I finished up later).  Ryan installed the trim at the bottom of the columns while Ryan’s dad, Ryan and I did the second coat on the walls.  Walls and ceilings done!  Just one coat on trim left at this point!

Small hallway off the kitchen, trim all primed

Back hallway trim primed

One other small project for Saturday, Ryan got the doorbell at the front door installed (it doesn’t do anything yet but it looks nice!).

The livingroom! 2 coats on walls and ceiling, 1 coat on trim (sanded and ready for 2nd coat)

Other side of the livingroom

Another view

Tomorrow we have our regular breakfast plans and Alex needs a quick haircut for her birthday and school pics this week!  Then home to do some more work, I’m hoping to hang the lights and fan and get a start on the trim painting.  The plan is by the end of Monday or Tuesday the livingroom will be done except for the floor, windows needing paint and crown molding (always the last thing to do!).  All things we will hopefully do soon 🙂

 

 

Crunch time

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It’s crunch time, I don’t want to be painting the week before the party (the smell of new paint can linger), so the last painting will be at latest Monday night (if we need to finish something up from the weekend).  So that means this week is crunch time painting wise and next week I’ll do the party prep (make decorations and favors etc).

Last night Ryan got home in time to see Alex before bedtime and then after dinner we got in another 2 hours of painting.  We finished up the 3 windows and archway in the livingroom so all the livingroom trim has 1 coat now!

Cupola all has 1 coat on trim

I also got 4 of the livingroom outlets installed (they aren’t yet live as I have to take out the one outlet we are using to wire them all up), and there are about 4 more outlets in the hallway and diningroom to go before this effort is done.

Outlets wired up

Once the livingroom was done we moved right on to the diningroom…

Knee walls have first coat on trim and the caps have 3rd coat of poly

I got the 3rd coat of poly on the caps, but I think we’re going to do a 4th coat today, they are smooth but a couple of small bumps that I’d like smoothed out, plus it will be a high traffic area for decorations and such i’m sure, a 4th coat can’t hurt.

Window trim and baseboards all have first coat

So it was another late night but definitely worth it!  If we have another painting night tonight I think we’ll get the first coat on the upper walls so we can see how it will look.  Then it will be time to sand all the trim and do the second coat this weekend … yikes!

 

 

 

Another late night

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I took the night off of work last night and after Alex went to bed, and after dinner I got some painting done!  I got 2 more sides of the livingroom trim painting  done (the archway wall and the knee walls as well as the window on the front wall).  So the livingroom just has 3 windows left to paint then time to sand it all and start coat 2 🙂

Archway done

This window and wall are complete

Knee wall

Other knee wall

I hope to get the third coat on the knee wall caps today (got the second coat done on monday), then hopefully tonight some more painting.  Although I did catch Alex’s cold from last week so I’m feeling pretty cruddy 🙁

 

 

 

2 week countdown

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Someday my birthday party planning with simply be planning for a party (favors, decorations etc.) but like last year we have a huge push to get the house as done as possible before the party since this is the only time of year some of our family gets to see our house!  So the big push continued last weekend.

Friday my neighbor came over and finished filling nail holes and got the upstairs linen closet taped.  Saturday he came back and sanded ALL the trim in the livingroom and diningroom (including ceiling boxes).  Not a fun job!

Ceiling boxes are pretty much where they will be for party

There is some hope we’ll get them caulked and primed but I’m not actually that hopeful (ryan is).  We’ll see.

Our contractor was only here Saturday and he got baseboard caps installed in the kitchen, baseboards on the backs/sides of cabinets and baseboards in the front hallway (the one section we can do currently).

 

Hard to see but those baseboards finally have caps!

And this little hallway off the kitchen has baseboard caps too!

Baseboards in the front hallway

The front hallway is basically where it’s going to be for the party as well, although I do hope to maybe get the ceiling painted so I can install the light.  Not a deal breaker though.

Ryan and I caulked all the trim in the livingroom and diningroom Saturday, sanded (and scraped) the big archway in the livingroom and Ryan finished putting up any trim that was missing (a few of the shadow boxes in the wainscotting and the plinth blocks in the front hallway).  Saturday was a busy day handing off toddler duty and house work.

I stained the oak knee wall caps the color we will stain our floors when we refinish them!

The other one and the trim all primed

Saturday night we stayed up till 1am priming all the trim in the livingroom – yikes!

Trim all primed!

Sunday was another busy day but Ryan had to work so it was just me painting when I could fit it in.  Alex decided to skip her nap but she was in her crib from noon-three (with some breaks where we went in to rock her to see if that would help – it didn’t).  But it was a few hours for me to paint and then the evening when Ryan watched her.  First I finished up priming all the trim in the diningroom (not the ceiling or columngs, but the baseboards and windows).

Baseboards primed

 

Baseboards wrap around and end at the edge of cabinet

Windows are all primed!

And finally some actual paint …

Hard to see but it’s linen white, the wainscoting is all going to be this solid color along with all the trim. The walls will be a light brown later on.

 

Some poly on the knee wall caps

This side of the archway and 2 windows are painted

Painting takes a while because there’s a lot of surface area!  But hopefully a little progress each night will be made.  Once we get a coat on I want to get 1 coat on the walls so we can see the finished look just about.  This whole working in the evenings only works if work isn’t busy but here’s hoping, I need some evenings off, been a busy few months!

 

 

A new baby in the family

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Aimee, Jason and little Jason welcomed little Madelyn to the family last friday!  Alex and I drove down for 5 days in CT to hang out with little Jason and make the time that Aimee and Jason were in the hospital a little easier on him (Alex is a fun distraction).  Little Jason did great, he missed his parents but had lots of fun with his cousin, grandma and auntie Cole 🙂  Baby Maddy is doing great, she was a bit early so she stayed at the hospital when Aimee came home but we have high hopes that she can maybe come home by next week?? 🙂

In the meantime, Ryan stayed home (he had to work) and worked on the house over the weekend, our contractor and neighbor came for the whole weekend so when I got home Tuesday night I had a LOT to see!  Let’s start with the diningroom:

First up, the drywall is temporarily hung in the second half of the ceiling now, we will remove it to finish plumbing but for now it will look a bit nicer to have it up.

Ceiling sheetrocked in diningroom

The chair rail and baseboard cap was installed ALL the way around the diningroom and livingroom.  The one small section in the diningroom that has to remain unfinished (for plumbing) has none but it’s behind our hutch.

Chair rail and baseboards!

Also notice the walls are primed in here – our neighbor sanded and primed the diningroom (or the section we are finishing anyway) on friday!

The wainscoting – oh wow – so the livingroom is completely done, the diningroom they ran out of the trim for this so there are 2 small boxes left but here’s a view of the diningroom side of knee-walls.

The left one isn’t done, and there will be one on the left of the built-ins.

And on to the livingroom:

First up the cupola – baseboard cap and chair rail done!

And check out these knee walls, the posts are mostly done (they will have trim at the top and bottom but that’s waiting until I finish the oak parts).  The quarter round and filler blocks are installed so they match our porch columns!  The wainscoting is done:

Just needs some paint!

Another view, wainscoting is done on that back wall too!

And a view of the front section of the livingroom – also finished

Wainscoting!

These pictures were from Tuesday night, i really should take new ones now that I’ve cleaned and moved stuff but we’ll be painting this weekend so more pictures will be posted after that.

Note the livingroom was also sanded (what was left to sand) and primed!

The front hallway was sanded and primed too!

Entryway ready for trim!

The first story of the stairs is primed too

The rest of the front hallway primed

So exciting!  Now we have a lot of holes to fill, some caulk, lots of sanding and priming of trim!  Then painting of walls to do!  This weekend we’ll get to work on that prep work and painting.  I’m hoping our neighbor can come and finish spackling upstairs, including the linen closet, get that sanded and primed soon too.  He can also do some prep on the trim with us.

Just 2 weekends to work until the party!  Plus i need to make time to go down and see little Maddy when she comes home from the hospital!  So much to do!