Richard and Kaitlin's Renovation

2010-12-18T16:36:00.005-06:00

This is what the back porch looked like before we did any work on it.
Again, different look.Jacked up the corner about 2 inches put a treated 4x4 and then framed it out. Replaced rotten floor boards on threshold.

Framed everything out here, still work to do on the other side before we can screen it in.

Inside

Replaced the trim around the back door.

New entry way light up.

New dining room light.

Dining room floors refinished.

In process of staining living room floor after sanding.

Freshly stained with no poly yet.

2010-11-12T13:35:00.002-06:00

New door handle installedSheetrock done and paint on the wall. Installed new ceiling fan.

Getting Back To Work

2010-10-19T19:56:00.009-05:00

Kate and I took some time off from the renovation once we got the kitchen done for some much needed rest. We started to get back on track this week and here are some of the updates from the kitchen and living room. We realistically only have about 3 more weeks on the inside to be to an acceptable level of "done". I think we'll always been working on something but as far as major construction we'll be done for a while (until we get to refinishing the floors).

Kitchen

We installed the vent and made a shelf for it to hang on, we will be building some sort of cabinets around the stove soon.

Cabinets and back splash completely done! We've actually been using our kitchen for nearly two months and you never know how much you need a kitchen until you don't have one for 8, count them 8 months.

Living room, new sheet rock is going up!

The ceiling in the living room had bowed some throughout the years so we had to jack it up and put some braces in the attic parallel to the ceiling joists.
Had to cut some holes to get pull the ceiling up.
We love the old front door we have but we have to replace the knob and put a deadbolt on it, well old doors and locks were made alot different so we pulled it all out filled the space with a piece of wood and wood filler so we can install the new hardware.

New front door hardware.

Some of he side effects of living in a house during a total renovation. This is our guest bedroom, lol. Sorry for anyone that wants to stay with us, you might be on an air mattress for a while. We moved 11 months ago and still haven't unpacked half of our stuff, I think maybe we should get rid of anything we haven't unpacked because we obviously haven't missed it any, doubt Kate will go for it though.

Dining room

Kitchen Update!

2010-08-08T21:01:00.008-05:00

I'm too lazy tonight to make a good post, here is the hood out of the box

backsplash

Not as much progress as I would like for a months time from the last blog but the countertop took a whole lot longer than expected to come in and be installed. Kate and I spent most of the day in Abilene yesterday at Lowe's and Target, we have picked out the hardware for the cabinets and have bought the material for the back splash.

Here is a pic of what the kitchen looked like the day we started:

Click here for "before pic" of kitchen

New kitchen sink hardware
Porcelain top table we are refinishing to use as kitchen workstation
Stove finally out of the box

New counter top installedNew vent hood for stove
Cabinets painted and fridge in place
Cabinets

2010-06-01T21:27:00.004-05:00

Alright well we have had a whole lot going on lately so here are some updates...

New headboard that Kate imagined and we built together from an old salvaged 5-panel door. This is the finished product, below are some steps along the way. Not in order but this picture up-loader never puts the pics in the order I want them.

New upper cabinets in, no doors yet, still being made, should be in this week. Fridge in its new home, will have cabinet about it that matches other upper cabinets.

New shades in master bedroom, match the ones in kitchen.
Floor completely refinished, stained "providential" color and sealed three times with polyurethane.
This is the new edition to the Fergeson family, Rudy. Didn't really plan on having another cat but I was looking out the window and saw this little guy getting carried around buy one the roaming dog packs in our neighborhood and before I realized it I had run outside and grabbed him. Well I made the mistake of taking him inside and showing Kate, after that he never left.He's getting along really well with the other cats though so I guess it worked out for the best.
This is the counter top we picked out, was going to go with a solid surface like the corian brand but this natural stone granite was actually a little cheaper installed for similar looks so we went with the granite.

Horny Toads, Roof, and Cabinets

2010-05-09T20:25:00.003-05:00

Kaitlin had never seen one of these so she snapped a pic! I remember when I was young they were all over the place at this house, sadly this is the only one we've seen so far, hopefully there are more around.New ceiling fan installed, 11.5" ceilings so we dropped it 3 feet. Also two coats of paint on are the walls in our master bedroom and all that is left in here is the trim needs a couple coats of paint (already sanded) and the floor still needs to be stained and sealed.
NEW ROOF! Class IV hail resistant 100 MPH rating Malarkey Alaskan Shingle. If you are ever looking at a new roof this is definitely a good way to go and with it being a class IV (highest UL rating a comp shingle can get) we get a 27% discount on our homeowners insurance. If you are looking for homeowners insurance let me know because Like a good Neighbor...well you get the drift.
We haven't done much work on the outside of the house yet, we will be replacing all the trim soon and then working on painting this summer. It's hard to justify spending too much energy outside when so much work needs to be done inside.
New cabinet bases installed, the doors are still being made and the upper cabinets will be going in next week. We are having a counter top guy come by this week to get the measurements and Kate and I will be picking out a sink tomorrow.

Some Pics

2010-05-05T14:46:00.002-05:00

Here are just a couple pictures from my cell phone, battery on camera is dead. I'll get a new one and update the blog properly later in the week.

Floor in master-just mopped, getting ready for new stain and sealer.
"Laundry room"-little tight but its the only space we had to put them, excited that it's done.

Kate painting the master bedroom walls.

New stuff in April

2010-04-27T20:51:00.005-05:00

Alright, so the new roof is going on this week. The laundry room should be done this week, just needs the water lines put it, supposed to happen Wednesday. Kitchen cabinets are being built right now and should be ready in a week or so. The floor in what will be our master bedroom floor has been sanded and is ready to be stained and sealed.

Roofer's Trailer

Roofing felt

After the tear-off with new felt

Not so new felt, yet.

Before the tear off

Bedroom floor -after.

When we started.

Laundry room door up and painted.

Bart

Paint on the dining room walls is going up.

Laundry room with Central Heat and Air unit and no door

Bathroom & Bedroom pics

2010-03-12T00:12:00.005-06:00

Trim in dining room done.Click here to see "before" bathroom pics.

2010-03-09T21:02:00.001-06:00

The stain lady is staining the floor.
New trim around pocket door is about half way complete.

P-r-o-g-r-e-s-s

2010-03-08T23:13:00.003-06:00

This is the kinda mess contractors make

The texture has been sprayed on the wall, will be painted tomorrow.
Bath tube has been painted a lovely chocolate brown.
Hallway has been textured.
Floor has been partially sanded, will be sanded some more, then stained, and a coat of polyurethane on tomorrow.
Floor repair.

Updates

2010-02-22T21:15:00.008-06:00

Wow, so much going on, can't even begin to explain. Kitchen is coming along. Cabinets to be built next, go back and look at the before kitchen pics, big difference. The trim was sanded and painted the walls were textured and painted and I put up some roman shades. Accidently broke the window above the door, oops it's at the glass shop now.
Today

12-22-09

Nov 2009

New doorway finished.

New thermostat...

Living room is getting there...

New stove, still sittin in a box, lol maybe someday we'll get it out.

We have a fridge now!

Updates

2009-12-20T16:30:00.004-06:00

Sorry for not posting anything new in a while but between the new job, the move, and the renovation we've been a little busy. Good news is we are settled, making progress, and I've passed the licensing exam I've been studying for and Kate is winding down work for a little while so she'll be able to help with the house more. The kitchen, the master, and the bathroom are sheet-rocked and taped and we will start mudding them this week. The sewer pipes had roots growing through them so we had to have a plumber come and fix this, he was here for 4 hours on a Saturday (ouch $$) but had to be done. I always thought that people screwed up budgets by not preparing and poor management but geeze I'm starting to understand that if it can go wrong, you probably should prepare for it.

Here are some new pics...

Will post more when I have more time.

First of the Kitchen-here is the new wall we put back where it originally was...

New back door in place
Here is the laundry room in the old "butlers" pantry, with the A/C & heater shown with scaffolding stored.
Outside of said new wall
Another...
This is what it looks like to live in a construction zone

New bathroom vanity
Bedroom wall
Kitchen ceiling

Another view of kitchen

Quick Update

2009-11-25T13:29:00.000-06:00

The house leveling company started on Monday, a full week early, so that is awesome news. They are going to be done by Tuesday because of the Thanksgiving Holiday but everything is going great so far. The house already is signifigantly more level than it was and they are only halfway done. Some of the stucco is cracking but nothing that isn't fixable and it was expected. Will post pics when I get time this weekend.

Some Updates

2009-11-22T12:33:00.007-06:00

hew! What a busy week, between new job and trying to work on the house and driving back and forth between San Angelo and Sweetwater, I haven't slept much. Sorry for just the few pictures but I'll try to get more up soon. Still waiting on the house leveling company to get there and get the job done. Getting estimates on the roof, amazing how many differences you can have in opinions from company to company.
Some "landscaping" done, well at least we cleared out all the crap that was there so I can start to plant some nice shrubs next spring.Some drywall up, can't do too much until the house is level.
New back door.
Eaves and trim getting replaced or scraped and primed by the painting crew.

The paint is coming off the trim, not easily but is coming off.

All in all, a fairly productive week, we have a good bit of stuff moved into the construction zone since we are going to try and live there during the renovation. We have to get a everything moved from San Angelo by Dec 6 (Wish us luck).

Wow there is so much to do

2009-11-14T23:32:00.005-06:00

Well now that I have some "before pictures" posted, I will be periodically adding updates as we progress. There is a lot of work that needs to be done that has to be put on hold for now. With the houses age it has become unleveled throughout the years and has caused some major but fixable problems throughout the house. We have contracted a house leveling company to come and correct this problem, which is great except they can't get to it until December and wow it's not cheap (but has to happen). They will be raising the house up with hydraulic jacks and putting two support joists the length of the house and pouring new piers for them to rest on. We really can't drywall or put in cabinets or anything like that until the house is level, so for now all of that will have to wait, but don't worry there are many things that can be done.

Bedrooms "Before" Pictures

2009-11-14T23:17:00.004-06:00

Here are a few pictures of the bedrooms, not too much to do in these just refinish the floors, sheetrock, and paint.

"Kitchen" Before Pictures

2009-11-14T23:06:00.004-06:00

Not sure you can really call it a kitchen yet, more of a room with no plumbing or cabinets that I assume someone once cooked food in. It will be a kitchen soon enough though.

Living and Dining Room "Before" Pictures

2009-11-14T22:53:00.001-06:00

There are fireplaces in the living and dining rooms, with 10' pocket doors and a built in china hutch.

Bathroom "Before" Pictures

2009-11-14T22:32:00.000-06:00

The bathroom will need a little work. lol

Exterior "Before" Pictures

2009-11-14T22:07:00.000-06:00

The exterior definitely has potential somewhere underneath all this.