2562 renovation

Side Yard

2006-11-15T09:30:00.000-08:00

I know many of you have been waiting with great anticipation to see the side yard...here's what we started with...those are intertwined vines that have grown over an "arbor" which was (barely) attached to the house.

And here it is midway through the project, with the vines removed (3 dump trips later)...

Next we had to pull up the bricks (about 1000), demolish and haul away the "planters", and dig out the stumps from the vines. Finally, we built the retaining fence, re-did the back slope, and put down gravel. The plan is to (at some point) put plantings above the retaining wall and replace the fence. DO not expect that plan to be implemented anytime soon.

Thank goodness we finished before the rains came- it would have been quite a task to deal with it had it turned to mud...not that it was easy...watching the MR dig out those roots proved that.
But now it is - mostly- done. Hooray!

2562 renovation retrospective

2006-07-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

I'd like to welcome the first guest blog posting by my dedicated, supportive and motivational wife. Experience the house through her eyes and words below... any of my comments will be in italics.
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Hello Blog Fans!
We here at 2562 Renovation Central are proud and pleased to present the 2562 Renovation Retrospective. It was inspired by our recent realization about how far we've come (while choosing to ignore how much more there is to do...) Enjoy this walk down memory lane while we pat ourselves on the back for a few minutes (but not longer than that as there are projects waiting). While you're looking at the "before" images you'll probably be thinking, "what were they thinking?" Yeah, we have no idea. We are crazy.

Here is the front room when we bought the house:

And here it is one year later:
And as it appears today (we call it the music/playroom):

And the entryway (the front door is just off the right from this photo):The living room and dining room is the next space on our tour. When we bought the house, as you can see below, there was a rough looking room:

One year later, it was on its way to being habitable:

And now:The bathroom on the main floor was, shall we say, not quite functional?
And now it has a sink, a toilet AND a bathtub/shower...not to mention walls and floors.

Here is one of the most actively renovated rooms. When we bought 2562, we were told this was the kitchen. The previous owner had mapped out where the cabinets and counters would go, but there were no cabinets or counters installed, let alone any appliances.
We decided it would be easier to use this as a bedroom, and put the kitchen in the back of the house to have use of the sliding glass doors onto the deck. (SEE BELOW FOR THAT KITCHEN.) Ultimately, though, the kitchen needed to be back next to the dining room. And while we were doing that, we may as well add a breakfast bar and walk in pantry... Sure, it sounds easy now, but that one project is the bulk of this blog! The finished kitchen:
Here is the room in the back of the house with the doors to the deck and to the basement. It was marketed as a "den" but since there was no wall to prevent one from falling down the stairs to the basement, nor a functional light or window, it was not particularly welcoming...
So, we turned it into a kitchen for two years. (In the previous photos, you can see some masking tape on the floor... that was marking out where these cabinets were going to go.)
And now it is a lovely little girls' bedroom (if we do say so ourselves).
The other main floor bedroom was just a little grungy, but it cleaned up nicely.

This is the staircase leading to the top floor which housed the beginnings of a master suite. These stairs were the only access point up (how on Earth the jacuzzi tub made it up there, we just don't know). The stairs were so scary our realtor would not go up, and the sign in the picture says "Use caution on stairs." Duh.

M.R. met his match in doing the stairs, and so we had to bring in a ringer to make them safe and to code. That said, he did do all of the drywall to make it into a stairwell in the first place.
Here's the master suite (the entire second floor of the house, along with the master bathroom) in it's raw state.
And in the in-between stages...

And today! (Note the beautiful new cork flooring, and the second photo is of E's organizational dream... miles and miles of shelving!)
The master bedroom has 2 decks off of it, but the one we use (called the Zen deck) is quite nice in the summer:

We have also done some yard work:

And made a guest room from this:

Turning it into this:We hope you enjoyed the tour, and we encourage all of you to come and see it in person!
Although we don't know what is next for the MR and Co., we thank all of you for your continuing support!

2006-07-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

Coming soon...2562 Renovation Retrospective!

Day Eighty Three to Ninety Four: Don't take it for granite.

2005-11-07T22:17:00.000-08:00

They're here! They're here! Yes yes yes the counters are here!

Wow.

E left me a message on my voicemail at work saying, "these counters, they're SWEET!" Went on like that for about 10 minutes. I think she was caressing the countertops while she was leaving the message. Should I be jealous of countertops?

But, as with all parts of this project, there's a snafu. The beautiful handles we have on the cabinets are right under the countertop edge, which makes them difficult to grab to open. So now we need to figure out a different handle solution for those drawers/cabinets that are right under the countertop.

But those countertops... wow! Here are some more pics.

The plumbers were originally scheduled to come out on Thursday (in 3 days) but somehow we got lucky and there was an opening tomorrow afternoon. So in theory we could hear the hum of the dishwasher tomorrow night. Well, more than a hum, because the dishwasher sucks, but at least I won't be doing dishes in the basement. I hope.

So what's left? The sink cabinet doors, the kickplates on the bottom of the cabinets, some baseboard/door trim, some under-cabinet lighting, the breakfast bar. Then the rest of the house, of course. But running water in the kitchen will be a big step. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Day Eighty to Eighty Two: What's so special about these counters?

2005-10-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

It looks like the counters are going to be installed on November 7th. And if the plumbing is hooked up on the 8th, it will be a banner day in the 2562 renovation process.

Several people have asked what kind of counter material we're doing. When I reply "granite" it just doesn't seem to do the stone justice. Not just any granite, but one called "bamboo verde." Why? See a pic of the slab for yourself and you'll know...

When we saw this slab in the showroom, it was the first (and only) thing we both said, "wow, that's it!" We'd been considering concrete, or soapstone, but they just paled (literally) in comparison to this. Luckily the kitchen is small, and all the counters can be pulled from one slab... otherwise we'd never be able to afford it. Just another benefit to having a small, yet efficient kitchen.

As far as actual progress, the light was put up in the pantry, and the appliances and countertop were leveled. Nothing too photogenic. Tonight will be starting to figure out how to attach the breakfast bar. Breakfast bars... yum!

Day Seventy Four to Eighty: Go counters go!

2005-10-24T12:39:00.001-07:00

Oh, that sucks. Just typed up the posting and it didn't save. Well, here goes again........

Day 78 had the counter dude come out to measure for the countertops. According to E, he was quite the character (not only does he measure for countertops, but he's also a bounty hunter). With only one edge of the counters needing a little leveling attention, everything went well. It should take about 2 weeks to fabricate the counters, so in theory we could have them in on November 4. The plumber is scheduled for the beginning of the following week, so there's the slight possibility we could have a sink and dishwasher by November 9. But that's just crazy talk.

In the meantime, since Dr. Drey started peeling the blue protective coatings off the cabinets, we decided to peel 'em all off. So now you can see the cabinets in their intended glorious, vibrant color (from top: south wall of kitchen; west wall of kitchen; pantry).

Besides all that, we'll be working on installing the light fixture in the pantry, the breakfast bar counter, and a variety of other tasks until the counters are in. We also got the cedar shingles up on the back of the house, just in time for the rainy season. Stay tuned for the counter updates.

Day Fifty One to Seventy Three: The ups and downs of cabinet installation.

2005-10-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

Okay okay okay. I've been incredibly delinquent in posting. The trip to Mexico took a week off of the blog and renovation (though we had a great time... shout outs to the Cleveland and Austin crews that joined us in Puerto Vallarta! I wonder if the pool is on the same renovation schedule as our kitchen?), then there's been so much going on with the renovation that I haven't had time to post. So today. Today I'm posting a ton of pics, and will give the rundown of progress, setbacks and progress with dates filled in. I'll also try to write it in present tense to build the suspense of what's going to happen! So here goes...

September 28 (Day 51): (this happened before leaving for Mexico) We finished painting, and have now begun to hang the wall cabinets. Got all of the ones up along the south wall of the kitchen (see below).

I also got the base cabinet built for the corner (you can see it in the bottom left of the photo above). We also got all the cabinets hung in the pantry (see below). Sorry the photo isn't that clear... it's kind of a narrow room and hard to get a good photo in there.

Tomorrow will be building and hanging more cabinets. Woo-hoo!

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September 29 (Day 52): (this happened before leaving for Mexico) We're already putting the pantry to use... see the photo below for the shelves beginning to be stocked with goodies.

Besides that, we're also making progress on the rest of the cabinets... the sink cabinet is installed (see below). Now we'll be off for a week while maxin' and relaxin' in Puerto Vallarta, celebrating some birthdays, and having a grand old time. We'll see you, and the kitchen, when we get back. I'm sure you'll all still be around.

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October 7 (Day 60 - or do vacation days not count?): (back from Mexico) Upon returning to the unfinished kitchen, we kicked it into high gear to crank out some more cabinets. Plus, we started moving some appliances back into the kitchen from the dining room, like the refrigerator...

...and the dishwasher (though still not connected). Plus, we put in the cabinet to the right of the dishwasher...

...and we built (but didn't install the cabinets next to the stove).
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October 9 (Day 62): Just when you think you're really cruising along, you hit a snag. Like yesterday.

We had all the base cabinets built and attached to the wall. I'd even screwed down the plywood on top for the sub-layer for the granite. And then the snag. E was testing out the prep area to the left of the stove, and the counter height felt, well, high. Which is to be expected, with E being just shy of 5 feet tall. But they felt really high. So we busted out the tape measure. Figuring in the granite, the counters appeared to come to about 37 inches high. For those not in the know, that's pretty high. Way too high for us.

Because of the slope of our floors (the house mysteriously slopes to the center support beam... I think when the previous owner put in the new foundation, they must have been about an inch short for this support. I'm not worried about the house falling down, but that slope definitely makes for a difficult leveling project) we had to adjust the leg heights of the cabinets. A bit too much, apparently.

So... we scrapped the stock legs and came up with our own solution: 2 2x4s stacked on top of each other, which reduced the counter height by at least 2 inches. Here's the close-up:

So with that fairly major adjustment done, we got to putting on the plywood sub-layer.

Plus I was able to put up the lights above the baking/lower prep area to the right of the stove (which will come out to about 33 inches high, which will be great for the bakers in the family).

So now that all the cabinets are installed, and the countertops are on, it's time to put some doors on these things.

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October 18 (Day 73): Today's post is a summation of all the stuff that's gone on since October 9th. Almost all the doors are on (except for the corner base cabinet and the sink cabinet), and the handles are all installed. Everything looks awesome, though it's hard to get a true read on how it's going to look because we've left the protective blue coating on the cabinets until the counters are installed. So imagine all these photos with white instead of light blue (though the light blue is kind of growing on us).

-- photo above: pantry --

-- photo above: west kitchen wall, with the microhood and microhood cabinets also installed --

-- photo above: southeast corner, with shelf, light and bamboo installed above sink --

-- photo above: south wall, with dishwasher STILL not connected... it can't be hooked up until the sink is hooked up, and that can't be done until the counters are in --

So you may be wondering where we've been doing the dishes for the last couple months. Here's an "entertaining" photo of the laundry room, where we've been doing the dishes in the utility sink:

A couple other loose ends... the new back door was finally installed, which opens on the correct side. Plus we got a $300+ credit for the drywall and insulation not done by the door and window company.

The counter people come out on Friday to do the templates for the counters, and hopefully they'll be installed 2 weeks after.

And now I think we're all caught up.

Day Fifty: Half way there?

2005-09-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

Day Fifty. Wow. A half century of days on this project. It slowly moves forward. We hung the fourth wall cabinet and built the corner base cabinet. See them in place:

You can also see the new floor. Here's a better view:

The corner base cabinet took much longer to assemble than expected, but that's the only one, so now we should be able to cruise along on the rest. Hopefully Day Fifty One will have the cabinet over the microhood installed, and some more base cabinets. That would be nifty. Stay tuned.

And just to mentally prepare yourself, the blog will be on vacation from October 1 - 6. The family is heading south of the border to celebrate the birthday of one of our supporters. ¡Olé!

Day Forty Eight and Forty Nine: Here comes the cabinets.

2005-09-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

Continuing to move forward with the kitchen, we've installed the new overhead light fixture (above).

Okay, joking aside, it was a very productive weekend. I installed the light bulb because we took down the previous light fixture so we could paint the room. A coat of primer and two coats of paint later, the room is ready for cabinets. Which was Sunday night's task.

We installed the rails and the corner cabinets. To put this in perspective, the sink will be on the wall on the left, and a long counter with the dishwasher will be on the right. But we had a bit of a measuring problem... when we measured the room, taking into account the soffet (sp?) on the far right (just out of the picture), we measured the bottom part. The bottom part is smaller than the top, which meant we couldn't fit the cabinets we wanted on the wall (the wall above on the right). So we'll take this opportunity to come up with a creative solution, either shelves, or a narrower cabinet. E is going to Ikea in a couple weeks so we'll see what we decide.

And to get a better view of the paint, here's another angle (you can also see that darned top-heavy soffet on the left).

It's kind of hard to tell from the photos, but it's just a shade off of white towards gray. I think it's going to look great once all the cabinets and counters are in place.

So tonight will be putting in the rest of the wall cabinets on the rail above, and hopefully getting the cabinet above the oven installed. We'll also probably start busting out some of the base cabinets. Which all contributes to the room starting to feel, well, like a kitchen. Go figure.

And go Tribe.

Day Forty Seven: Once, twice, three coats a lady.

2005-09-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

Last night we applied the third coat of joint compound. Hopefully this will be the last coat so we can get painting tomorrow. As E and I discussed, without all this drywalling, we'd be missing out on all this quality time together.

Since most of the walls will be behind cabinets, we were very judicious in our compound application, so hopefully the sanding tonight should go smoothly. Ha! Smoothly! Sanding drywall! Oh I crack myself up.

Anyway, at the top of the post is the south wall of the kitchen. There are going to be wall and base cabinets along most of this wall. Here's the pantry:

The wall on the left of the photo is basically going to have cabinets running from the ceiling to the floor, and almost the entire width of the room (about 6 feet). This will hopefully provide some much-needed storage off the kitchen, as opposed to having to keep stuff in the basement.

And here's another angle of the kitchen:

You can see the stove in the foreground with a lovely sheet draped over it. When one of the inspectors came to the house, E was talking to him and he recommended putting down sheets to help control the drywall dust. While they don't suck the drywall dust up like a sponge, they do keep it from blowing all over the place like it would if it was just on the plastic tarps. So that was a handy tip. We'll have to make some kind of tapestry or flag or something with the sheets when we're done. Or maybe use them in the guest room?

E and Dr. Drey went to Home Depot today and got the paint, so we'll be ready to throw that stuff up on the walls hopefully on Saturday.

Oh, and the back door. Long, long, LONG story... basically our salesperson (the Rickster) has a habitual mis-information habit... so for the last 2 weeks I'd been getting the runaround on where our new door with the right hardware that opens on the right side was. So after speaking to pretty much everyone that works at the window company, it sounds like it will be installed next Wednesday. It had better be.

But I wouldn't bet on it.

Day Forty Six: White haze, all in my brain.

2005-09-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

***Splog update: because I still seem to be getting automated comments on the site, I've had to add "word verification" for comments being posted. Hope this doesn't keep you from continuing to contribute your feedback and positive reinforcements! More on word verification...***

Quick update on the first coat of joint compound... mission successful! Kind of in the same way that a banner on an aircraft carrier might indicate a mission was completed, but is really just the start of the challenge...

But enough about politics, let's talk home improvement. The first coat of joint compound has been applied and sanded. I've simulated what it looked like in the room while sanding...

While the power sander was, well, powerful, it definitely kicked up some dust. But the first coat is sanded, and the second coat of joint compound has been applied. Tonight is sanding the second coat, though I think we're going to forgo the power sander. It's just a bit too much power for the second coat. The texture variations and nuances of sanding by hand are going to prove beneficial in this second coat to minimize the amount of joint compound and sanding necessary for the final coat.

We're hoping to start priming the room by Saturday, and for the Indians to be in control of the AL Central lead by Monday.

Day Forty One to Forty Five: Here comes the mud.

2005-09-20T16:34:00.000-07:00

***Special Guest Blog entry by E. while the Master Renovator (MR) is working. Also, the commenting has been removed for non-blogspot members. I've been getting tons of blog spam (splog?) so in order to post comments, you'll need to have a membership. We'll see ow that works out.***

Well, faithful readers, as you may have guessed from the dearth of entries, we have been busy doing work rather than blogging.

Big stuff this weekend! We installed the cork floors (thanks to P-town 'rents for their help). We can't show you the entire room as they have already been covered in plastic for the sanding and mudding phase, but here's a closeup:

Also, the rest of the fence and the gate were also completed. This considerably adds to the privacy of the kitchen windows.

Finally, we also completed the first coat of mud. Here's a pic:

You may ask, having seen the picture of the now empty kitchen, where the heck is everything? See for yourself:

Unfortunately, our spirits were not running as high as you would think given this weekend's successes... my (E's) purse was stolen from outside of our house on Friday morning, and so all day that day we were dealing with cancelling accounts, making calls, police reports, getting new ID, etc. Not only was the loss of the wallet/purse and it's contents a major blow, there was the fear of identity theft (they have both E's ID and checkbook) and also that they know where we live (and how much we have in the bank). A serious bummer, not to mention the inconvenience (no cash + no credit cards + no checks = no buying anything). ARRGH.

Tonight, we did, however, have 2 important developments which may get us back into happy renovation mode. First, we met with a home security salesperson, and it looks pretty likely that we will allocation funds to having a hardwired security system installed. Second, MR figured out that we should at least TRY using the hand sander for sanding the mud... and it was FAN-frickin'-TASTIC. Regretfully, it was too loud for the sleeping beauties, but worry not! It takes so much less time than doing it all by hand that we can do it before bedtime tomorrow and still have time to do the second coat of mud. Gotta stay on top of the timeline. HA! that's just plain old funny.

Day Thirty Six to Forty: Closing up the walls.

2005-09-14T14:03:00.000-07:00

As we go into Week 6 on the project (with time off for travel, of course), we finally see some visual changes on the constructive side in the kitchen. All the drywall has been hung (except a couple small pieces in the pantry). See for yourself.

(photo above: looking at kitchen from dining room)

(photo above: east wall of kitchen)

(photo above: south wall of kitchen)

(photo above: west wall of kitchen, looking into dining room)

Always ones to look at innovative building materials, note the aluminium foil to the left of the stove in the photo above. No, it isn't permanent... just there to protect the wall until we get the stainless steel to cover that part.

Next steps will be to finish up the pantry drywall, then it's going to be a "mudfest" with applying joint compound over the next few days. I will be greatly relieved once that's done, as it will be the messiest part of the project and by far the least enjoyable.

Next set of photos should show some taped seams, at least I hope they do.

Day Thirty Two to Thirty Five: Approved!

2005-09-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, the electrical was approved yesterday! Apparently the guy came in, spent about 2 minutes looking around, and said it was all good. I guess when they give you a list like the one below, they figure you're going to fix it all, so what's the point in checking it.

All of this means we'll be hanging some drywall this weekend. That and putting some exterior shingles on the back of the house where they put in the new door. Since we're in mid-September, we're tempting fate to leave it uncovered for too long here in the Pacific Northwest. And if you were curious, 13 sheets of drywall are heavy when loading them yourself onto a cart at Home Depot. They're a bit heavier when you're loading them all into your truck by yourself. By the time you get home and unload them into the basement by yourself, they're really quite heavy. But man, now I am so buff. I've found my weight training program.

And in the last post, I talked about Dr. Drey's room... here are some photos so you can check it out. The curtains were custom made by E, and they turned out great. The fabric/pattern is so cool; a beautiful blend of little girl with sophisticated modern design. Still need to paint the window trim, and hang the door trim. Someday...

The futon is not going to remain in this room... it's only living there until the guest room downstairs is finished (maybe sometime this winter?). Also, the crip isn't going to remain in the nook/closet... it will move once the futon is out of the way. Don't tell anybody that our daughter sleeps in a closet.

We should see some major transformations in the kitchen over the weekend with all the drywall hung. Our preliminary schedule has us finishing the kitchen by mid-October... we shall see.

Day Seventeen to Thirty One: Setbacks and progress.

2005-09-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been a long time. I've missed you all. But sometimes it's more important to actually work on the house and deal with other things instead of the blog. (Is it blasphemy to say maybe I shouldn't be blogging on the blog?)

So here's a quick rundown of what's going on. First, the setbacks.

Had the second electrical inspection on the kitchen. Unfortunately this time the inspector was a lot more thorough than the first one. So there were some minor infractions that need to be fixed before we can get another inspection so we can hang the drywall. They range from switching the oven's plug from a 3 prong to a 4 prong to adding staples in different places to putting more length on the leads inside the junction boxes. So, just will take some time, and I've already done some (the range is set up, some staples are added, wires are lengthened on about half the outlets).

Now, the progress.

Since there's electrical stuff that needs to be fixed, we couldn't hang the drywall, which moved us outside to the beautiful Pacific Northwest September weather. My wife (from now on to be identified as "E") tackled the front yard, ripping out a bunch of plants and cleaning it up. See for yourself:

While she was working on the front, I started putting up the new fence outside the kitchen window...

(photo above: the fence outside the kitchen)

(photo above: the fence looking out of the kitchen window)

And there's more. The bedroom is basically done, and it's resident has moved in (Dr. Drey seems to really like her room). We'll have those pics later in the week.

This week will be finishing up the fixes on the electrical so hopefully the next inspection will pass smoothly. That would mean drywall by this weekend, which would be exciting (well, as exciting as drywall can be), because that's the next step in getting closer to a sink and dishwasher in the kitchen. Doing dishes in the utility sink in the basement is getting old, and we're looking at probably 6 weeks at least without it, and probably closer to at least 2 months. But we'll see...

Thanks for hanging in there with me, sorry for the delay in the post, and hopefully I'll keep back at the updates so you know what's going on.

Day Fourteen, Fifteen, and Sixteen: Getting back to business.

2005-08-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, okay, I've been slacking on the blog. Inquiring minds need to know what's going on with the 2562 reno. So here goes...

Got back from the East Coast with the family. I'll allow their comments to give the feedback/impression on what I got done, because I'm sure I wouldn't be able to do them justice.

Day Fourteen: finished mudding the bedroom. Not very exciting, and not very photographically worthy. The main excitement for this day is the new windows were installed in the kitchen and the bedroom! They look great. See for yourself.

(photo above: kitchen windows)

The kitchen ones really open up the space to the outside, which in turn has moved the fence outside these windows a higher priority. Everything is a higher priority.

Day Fifteen: Today was spent priming the bedroom. Again, not very exciting, but for posterity, here are the photos. Also, I fixed the door to the bedroom so it now closes and latches.

(photo above: new window in the bedroom, and the wall is primed and ready!)

(photo above: other window in bedroom, wall primed)

(photo above: the door actually shuts, the walls are primed)

Day Sixteen: This was a landmark day. We painted the bedroom in a color named Potentially Purple. I don't see anything potential in this color, it's purple already. Looks great.

(photo above: the new window in the bedroom, with the new wall color)

(photo above: the other window in the bedroom, with the new wall color)

(photo above: you can't see it, but the closet is behind this door - that's just the bedroom door open)

The second big event of today was installing the half wall that will separate the kitchen from the dining room. Now we can get a better sense of how the flow will feel from one room to the other. You can already see from the photo (below) that we're using it to place beverages between the rooms. How convenient.

So now we're caught up. I've found with the family back, there isn't quite as much time for either the home improvement projects or the blog, but I'll continue along as best as possible and we'll see where that gets us. Now that the bedroom is painted, the next step will probably be window trim, door trim, and baseboard trim. At least the room can be used, and the younger one can move out of our bedroom and into her new palace.

I've also received requests for the overall floorplan and where all these changes are happening. I'll provide that info in the next couple days... thanks for hanging in there with me.

And the trip out. That's a blog in and of itself. I've got to write my letter to American Airlines about that one...

Day Thirteen.2: The 2 week recap.

2005-08-08T09:21:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been a crazy thirteen days. So much to do, and only so many hours in the day.

Overall, I feel pretty good about the accomplishments. Walking through the house last night while I was cleaning, the flow feels really good. I especially like how now the private spaces of the house (the 2 kids bedrooms and the stairs to the master suite) are all at the back of the house, the bathroom is between the private and public spaces, and then the living room/dining room/kitchen/pantry/stairs to the basement are all up front. The opening between the kitchen and dining room is really amazing. Now that I took down the plastic, the flow between all the rooms is great. It makes going to the basement seem like less of a task of going downstairs and more part of the entire space.

Some photos of the new kitchen situation. Cabinets and wire shelves won't be there when it's finished, but you get the idea...

(photo above: Kitchen, looking southeast, from dining room.)

(photo above: Kitchen, looking southwest, from inside kitchen.)

(photo above: Kitchen, looking east, from dining room. Pantry will be off to left past the windows.)

Then there's the new bedroom as well. Still needs some joint compound, but a good start.

(photo above: Bedroom, looking north through doorway from hallway.)

(photo above: Bedroom closet, looking southwest from inside room.)

Yesterday was also a lot of childproofing, putting away supplies, and cleaning. Man, that house was dirty. Took like 3 buckets of water... it was disgusting. But it will be good to come home to a relatively clean house.

It will also be good to have the girls home in a bit over a week. I'm sure they'll be surprised by the changes, if they happen to notice. And it will be great to have my wife home to help with some of the projects. Before we left for our first east coast leg, we did the upstairs bathroom together. Just like old times, working side by side. Like Bonnie and Clyde. Or Moonlighting.

So that's about all I have for now. Be back in eight days with the review by the family. Have a good week off.

Day Thirteen.1: At the airport.

2005-08-08T08:39:00.000-07:00

Turns out I'll have plenty of time to update the home renovation blog. My initial flight, which was supposed to leave at 6:30am, was delayed by an hour and a half. Which meant I'd miss my connecting flight.

So I was rebooked on a different flight. When I got to that gate, that flight was delayed by four and a half hours.

So I was rebooked on a third flight. So I had to go back to the ticket counter (outside security) to get my new boarding passes. Then re-entering through security, I was "randomly selected" for additional security screening.

So... it's been an awesome start to the day (at 4am, after getting to bed after midnight after all the cleaning and whatnot). And we'll see if my bag ever finds me and our destination.

More on the house later...

Day Thirteen.0: Done and done.

2005-08-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

First, thank you to Shannon, Anthony and the whole family for dropping off dinner for me tonight. It was delicious (a 3 sausage platter from Gustav's).

Second, it's late, and I need to be up at 4am to get to the airport. "OH NO!" you're probably thinking, "how will I know what's going on with the 2562 Renovation?" Don't worry. I'm taking the pictures tonight, and I'll bring them with me. I'll write the blog up on the plane, and post it tomorrow night from the east coast.

But I'll give you at least one photo. Here's looking in to the kitchen from the dining room. The refrigerator is in the right place, but these aren't the cabinets we're using, and there's no sink... but this gives you a rough idea.

Okay, off to bed. You'll get the full scoop tomorrow or Tuesday about the last day before heading east to meet back up with the girls. Can't wait to see them (and be away from renovations for a few days).

Day Twelve: Here's mud in your eye.

2005-08-06T23:43:00.000-07:00

Got both a question and a comment regarding the cookies mentioned in yesterday's post. There's a photo of one above, though by the time you read this it will probably be in my stomach (the cookie, not the photo).

Today started with the delivery of the appliances. They were due to arrive between 9 and 11am, and they got here shortly after 9am. Here's the refrigerator (photo below).

I would take a photo of the inside if there was anything good in it, but there's only a bit of milk, some bread, a handful of comdiments, and that's about it. Oh, and a PBR. C'mon, I leave on Monday, no point in leaving a fully stocked fridge. And along with the fridge is the oven.

Look at that... five burner solid surface, with one of the burners apparently able to crank out 3 million BTUs (which I thought was only gas, but what do I know) which can boil water in less than a minute. At least that's what I think the sales guy said. I was off with the kids, so I might have misheard. But I do know it has a warming drawer. So extra pancakes will stay warm, or extra slices of pizza, or potato pancakes. Basically anything round and flat, it'll stay warm for a good while.

Besides the appliance delivery, today was finishing hanging the drywall, then taping and mudding it. For those not in the know, "mudding" means putting the joint compound on the seams and holes. Why it's called this I'm not sure, but it is. I'm sure you don't want to see the same photos as before with joint compound on them, so I'll only post up one: the new bedroom wall.

On the right side of the photo is what will be the closet. Also, I sealed up the doorway that used to lead from this room to the basement stairs (photo below). I can't tell you how many times today I went towards that ex-opening to go downstairs. I need to relearn my traffic patterns for the house.

And I started cleaning up a bit. The house is a disaster, and I leave in a day. So tomorrow will be putting a second coat of joint compound on the areas that need it, cleaning up the house, and organizing the new kitchen so it will be functional when everyone gets home, sans sink. Until tomorrow, here's where I've been drying my dishes.

Day Eleven: The Inspector.

2005-08-06T01:32:00.000-07:00

Today was inspection day. Not only did the inspector find the house, but he arrived early. Apparently this inspector had a better map than the guy on Wednesday. So he arrives, takes 5 minutes to walk through the house, and says everything looks good. That's it. I could be doing shipshod, slapdash work, and it'd probably get approved. Where's the justification for doing quality construction? No wonder craftsmanship is going to pot.

Then this evening it was on to drywalling. All those people who doubted I'd be able to hang the drywall in the new bedroom, tape and apply joint compound... you were right. After pulling out the remaining kitchen outlets, and the old sink, and moving the refrigerator and dishwasher and shelves, and started putting up the drywall, it was late late late (as you can tell from this post time). But I did make pretty good progress. Did the entire side of the wall that will be on the hallway side.

(the new doorway and wall, looking from the hallway)

(the new doorway and wall, from inside the bedroom)

So to all those people out there who were expecting the room to be sheetrocked, taped and joint compound, I'm sorry I let you all down. I just couldn't go on any longer tonight. And for those of you who might not know, I'm heading to the east coast on Monday, then returning with the family in a week. So here's the schedule for the next 2 days plus some.

Saturday: Finish drywalling bedroom. Tape and mud this room, and any other places that can be closed up. Await appliance delivery. Frame kneewall.

Sunday: Get house child safe. If time allows, sand and mud bedroom. Do laundry and pack for trip (sounds like that could be the next blog). Clean this place up a bit.

Monday: Go east. Probably won't be any blog postings as I won't be working on the house. But you never know (about blog postings, I definitely won't be working on the house since I won't be here).

Following Tuesday: Return. Show off the progress to the family.

Following Wednesday: Resume construction and the blog.

Okay, I'm off to bed. And by the way, a big huge enormous thank you to Cynthia for dropping off some delicious dinner for me tonight. And I didn't even eat all the cookies in the box! Oh, and here's a closing image of the current kitchen situation.

Day Ten: The softer side.

2005-08-05T00:25:00.000-07:00

First, let's get down to the progress report. It was mostly an electrical day today. I finished the second counter height outlets, except for the ones that will be on the kneewall between the kitchen and dining room. (photo below)

I ran the electrical for the dishwasher. (photo below)

And I ran the electrcial for the microhood. (photo below)

So the only other electrical is the light above the kitchen sink, and the light above the "island" next to the stove.

The only framing left is to finish the framing around the vent stack in the southwest corner of the kitchen (photo below) and then build the kneewall. I need to wait to get the oven (more on that later) so I can determine where to start building the kneewall.

So on to today's vent. I had received a call from Sears on Tuesday saying the new refrigerator and oven would be delivered Wednesday afternoon. I wasn't going to be home Wednesday afternoon, so I called them and rescheduled it for Friday morning. I specifically said "morning" because I knew I wouldn't be able to be home in the afternoon. So I get my call today and it's for Friday afternoon. Of course I'm a bit ticked off, so I call Sears. The first person (Melissa) says she can't help me, so I ask to speak to a manager. While on hold I get disconnected. I call back and talk to someone else (can't remember her name). She puts me on hold to get a manager and I'm on hold so long I get sent back to the start. So then I get Gabe. By this time, after being disconnected and on hold for a delivery I specifically said I wouldn't be home for, I let Gabe have it. I ask why they would take a preference and then not only schedule a delivery for the exact opposite, but think that was okay. I asked how I could guarantee a morning delivery. He said there wasn't a way. So I said, "you mean I need to keep rescheduling the delivery and hope one time it will come up morning instead of afternoon?" Oh, and they all said once the schedule is determined for delivery, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING they can do to move it. they can only reschedule it. At this point I got transferred to Ruth Ann, a manager. I explained my predicament yet again. And how I need to get the appliances. And the stupidity of their delivery scheduling software. So she asks if they can deliver it Saturday. They obviously promote the smart ones to manager. By this point I told them this was just another reminder of why I really hate Sears, and that next time I'll shop at an appliance store that has a bit more flexibility to their delivery system. And the fact that not only could no one help me, but no one but the manager thought to ask if it could be delivered on Saturday.

So the appliances are coming on Saturday. Stupid stupid Sears.

Okay, tomorrow is the inspection of my electrical handiwork, the structural stuff done, and the plumbing. Hopefully they'll find the house this time. Then, it's on to drywalling.

Day Nine: Open sesame.

2005-08-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

The big news of today is the new opening has been made between the kitchen and the dining room. Check it out.

So I believe the heavy construction phase is coming to a close. There's still some minor framing to do in a couple places, but until the plumbers come back to do the finish work, and the window guys come to install new windows in the kitchen and bedroom, we're on our own.

But with the good comes the incomprehensible. I worked from home this morning so I could meet the city inspector to approve the plumbing. Thing is, the inspector never shows up. I get a call from the plumbers saying they got a call from the inspector who said the street address didn't exist. Now that's weird, because I'm pretty sure I live there. You would think an employee of the City of Portland might, just maybe, have a map of Portland so they can find addresses. Or a computer. Or this thing called www.portlandmaps.com, which coincidentally has my house on it. All the work I've been doing has been on an imaginary house. If only I had known, I could have just imagined all the home improvements.

We'll hopefully meet the inspector on Friday, and hopefully they will say what a great job I'm doing, take a little money under the table, and approve my work.

Talking about work, tonight was electrical night. I moved the overhead switch to a new home, but had to modify it slightly from my plan. Originally I was going to put a 3 way switch on the overhead light so you could turn it on coming through either door. But then I realized I'd have to run new wiring to the light itself, and it didn't seem worth it. So I put it on the north wall (photo below), under the windows, which is convenient if coming in to the kitchen through the pantry, basement, or dining room.

But that took a good while to run that cable. My arms need to be a bit longer. After that, I ran the cable for the oven. (photo below)

I also framed around the plumbing pipes and the electrical cable using a flat stud technique. Apparently that's the term for making a wall out of studs but having them sideways (as told by an architect friend), like my challenge that was overcome by the sweet, sweet sidecar junction boxes.

And I ran the electrical for the garbage disposal. (photo below)

The lower right is the outlet that the garbage disposal will plug into, the upper left is the switch that will turn on and off power to the outlet, which in turn will power the garbage disposal.

That's it for today. Running the cable took longer than expected. Tomorrow will be finishing the counter height outlets (except for the half wall that's going to go in the new opening between the kitchen and dining room, and probably some other electrical. Maybe a bit of the framing that's left as well. But we'll save that for tomorrow.

Day Eight: The best invention ever?

2005-08-03T00:34:00.000-07:00

First off, if I forgot to invite anyone to this blog, my apologies... I did get a few email bounce-backs. Second, I'm not positive who S.A.D. is in the last posting's comments, but if I had time for dinner, I'd obviously have time for drywalling, or for blogging. People have time for eating? Thirdly, it's no secret I keep my hair looking just so.

Okay, on to the serious stuff. Today was a very busy day. First and foremost, behold the SIDECAR junction box in all its majesty.

(from left: sidecar box attached to wall with the plug actually fitting; 2 plugs that will be above the south counter; the sidecar box alone... wow!)

The wires for the outlet go in the little "sidecar" so everything fits nicely. Then the drywall just goes over the sidecar and poof! it's done. This means I've finished wiring one of the 2 kitchen outlet circuits. Check and check. Until it's inspected and I have to fix something.

Secondly, the plumbers finished all the rough in of the plumbing today. It will be inspected tomorrow, then we'll see the plumbers again once the cabinets and counters have been installed. That seems like a long way off...

Third, the new back door was put in. Unfortunately, this wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. I thought it was a blessing that they'd be installing it today instead of tomorrow. I was told (yesterday) to expect a call around 12pm so I could get home to let them in. At 1:3opm, I called the door guy. He said he was running behind (the scheduler did, not the actual door guy) and should be there by 2:30pm. He would call before arriving so I had time to get home. So 3:30pm arrives and I get a call, "um, yeah, I forgot to call you from the office, so I'm here at the house." Terrific. So I load up my work to finish from home and go to let the door guy in. When I arrive, he's unpacking the door. I notice right away that the hinges seem to be on the wrong side. I'm pretty observant, you know. So I call my backup, my wife. She said she thinks the same thing. So I'm talking with the door guy saying I think the hinges should be on the other side, and he shows me the bill of sale that states they should be on the left hand side, when looking at it from the OUTSIDE. We needed them on the left hand side when looking at it from the INSIDE. But, the door needed to get put in, so I called the sales guy we dealt with, let him know my predicament, and my squeaky wheel should be getting some discount. Better be, since they're also installing 3 windows.

So the guy installs the door and leaves. But as he's installing it, I also observe that the hinges are brass. Anyone that knows my wife and I knows that we hate brass. Hate it. We had asked for brushed nickel for the hinges, and a stainless steel sill plate. That wasn't there either. AND the handle was brass. So I look at my notes and there on the fax I sent to the sales guy it says I wanted nickel hinges. I can't tell you how many times I told this guy that. So now I get another phone call to them tomorrow, PLUS they didn't caulk around the door, OR put in the insulation and drywall like they were supposed to. I'd better be getting some hella scrilla back.

All this is to say: here's the door!

I think the hinges will work okay on the side they're on, but it will be hard to tell until the shelves w/ the food and the refrigerator are moved.

On to accomplishment #4... finished the wall for the bedroom. Behold.

(photo above: new bedroom wall, looking northeast from the hallway. The new back door is to the right - out of the photo.)

(photo above: new bedroom wall, looking south from inside the room. Nice place for the refrigerator, huh? The fridge is framed by what will be the doorway. A new refrigerator will magically appear in the new kitchen. Maybe we'll leave this one here for the princesses to get cold beverages and snacks...)

And I think that's it for today. Oh, I met with the contractor who will be making the cutout from the ktichen to the dining room. They're doing it tomorrow, so here's a last look at the view from the kitchen to the dining room with the studs still in place.

If the city inspector who checks out the plumbing can give me approval on the bedroom, I'll probably hang that drywall tomorrow. If not, I'll continue on electrical in the kitchen and call for the inspection on Thursday.

Did I mention the sidecar junction box? Brilliant!

Day Seven: Plug in and tune out.

2005-08-02T00:53:00.000-07:00

I wish. Today didn't go as well as hoped...

It started out well and good. The plumbers arrived, I have them the briefing, and they got to work. They use this stuff called "aquaflex" which is flexible tubing for water. Pretty cool. Anyway, here's what they did today.

(photo above) Where the new kitchen sink will go.

(photo above) Rerouting the water pipes to the master bath so they go above the header that will frame out the opening between the kitchen and dining room.

So all of that was great (then again, I haven't tried the plumbing upstairs...). The problem came up when I started on the electrical. Well, first I framed in the south kitchen wall, the one with the 2x4s sideways (which will be a great segue into the next part, but first, the photo).

This part went fine. Then I ran the electrical cables. That took some work, as I had to drill holes through studs, the floor, and floor joists below to run the wire along the south wall (the one in the photo above). Then I hooked up a GFCI outlet on the first outlet in the run, which the refrigerator will plug into, then moved on to the plugs that are going to go on the south wall. Remember, I was so proud to find those shallow junction boxes because I thought it was going to save me so much time.

Ha.

The boxes are so shallow I can't fit an outlet in them. I have no idea what these things must be for, maybe a phone cable or tv cable... 'cause an outlet won't fit. See the photo below for proof.

Would. Not. Fit. I tried coaxing. I tried pleading. I tried swearing. I tried just jamming it in and trying to screw it in place. It just won't fit. So now I need to see if they have a junction box that's a bit deeper, or I'm going to have to put 1x4s or 2x4s on this wall to give it enough depth for the outlets. Nothing is ever as easy as it should be.

On the plus side, the plumbers should be finished tomorrow. The contractor is coming over to see what supplies she needs to put in the header on Wednesday. And the new back door is getting installed tomorrow (a day early, who ever heard of such a thing?). Once that door is in, I can finish the wall for the bedroom, run the electrical, and get it inspected so I can start drywalling it. Then I'll be back to the kitchen, while the joint compound dries, so I can hopefully get all the electrical signed off before Saturday. That way I can hang all the drywall in the kitchen and it will be relatively safe for the kids when everyone arrives home. But I'm being optimistic.

And thanks to everyone for their comments and support. It definitely helps on days like today when things don't go exactly as planned. Someone even offered to bring over dinner for me (thanks Cynthia!). The rest of you could learn a thing or two. At least drop by with a beer.