Paint!

We were able to get a sample of granite on Wednesday, and also see our slabs. We picked out the kitchen and dining paint color, and by the end of the weekend had two coats of paint on the walls. That's exciting progress!

Somewhere in the long weekend, Mick figured out that it would be much easier to do the window trim before the tile went on the wall in the bathroom. Detour to making trim.

We also made a diagram of where the heat coils are (and aren't) in the kitchen and dining. There are a few items that may come up through the floor later (central vac), and it would be a major oops to cut one of those.

Mick has cut into the first sheets of the plywood that will be the cabinet boxes. Stay tuned!

Walk the plank...

The electricians and the floor crew were here on Monday. The electricians ran the in-floor heat coils, and the floor guys covered it all with a leveling compound. Mick estimated 38 bags of mix put into 3 gallons of water each. That's a lot of wet (and smelly) stuff on the floor. No walking on it for 24 hours.

We have a plank to the "dining/office" and the "computer/office".

What's that?

We returned home on Sunday night from a nice weekend with my parents. Mick got two deer. Andrea missed.

The floor crew had been through and put down a thin coat of "green". We decided it was probably a bonding layer.

HardieBacker

The tile crew installed HardiBacker cement board today. It looks the same, only gray with lots of nails (every 8"), and seams.

Elizabeth is still having a blast with a racetrack in the kitchen. She might be disappointed when we finish!

Picture post

I owe you some photos, so here goes!

The dining room after sheetrock, but before texture. The plastic curtain is protecting our living/temp dining/temp kitchen area. It got a little tight this week.
View toward the kitchen.

Elizabeth painted the office. There is a rumor that it could be her playroom.

Here's the kitchen after the primer coat of paint.

We moved the temporary dining room to the office/playroom. This feels like fine dining! I even found a couple candles for our first meal.

Painting

On Wednesday I picked up our floor tile samples again, and we picked out paint colors for the office and bathroom. Mick finished ceiling painting throughout.

We made lots of progress on Thursday. I was done with work at noon, so we painted the breezeway ceiling, the bathroom, and the office.

The kitchen and dining color is on hold until we can see our granite.

Tomorrow: pick out grout colors for the tile floors, touch up and clean up the areas that are painted, and lots of other small stuff. Maybe I'll even be inspired to post some photos.

Primed!

Mick was really busy today. He finished assembling a set of shelves in the basement. We will make better use of a space that had to be cleared for construction work.

He also got a coat of primer on the ceilings and the walls. Looking good!

The sheetrockers are done!

The sheetrock crew is done. The buckets of wet are gone!

Now we need to think about priming and painting. No new pics. It looks the same, just cleaner.

My least favorite part...

The drywall delivery truck pulled in at 6:30 am on Tuesday.

This is the company that's doing the work.

Even though I've not been home much, sheetrock is still my least favorite part. Visually, it's great, but I hate the mess and the dampness that comes with it. I remember this part from the last remodel. It makes me a little crazy. No comments necessary.

Sheetrock tomorrow!

'nuf said.

... and quieter

We added insulation for soundproofing on some of the interior walls, then did a lot of clean up this weekend. Some of the 'echo' has gone away, and there's a better visual sense of how big each room is.

We're hoping for sheetrock this week.

Getting warmer!

Wednesday morning brought insulation. This stuff is amazingly "solid" on the walls.

The plumbers installed our shower Wednesday afternoon.

Today, Mick brought the deposit for our countertops to the kitchen guy, and picked up some supplies for building cabinets. This pre-finished plywood will be the cabinet interiors.

Our granite is "off the boat" and at the supplier. Soon it will be at Elegant Stone Products in Viroqua, where we can "visit" it.

This is one of our pieces: Slab

The electrician was back today and hooked up the lights in the breezeway and basement.

The foam insulation is arriving tomorrow. Gary should be here between 7:00 and 8:00. He said it should go relatively quickly, and that he will air the house out when he's done.

Nothing...

Nothing changed today, except the construction trailer that had been parked outside disappeared, and some of the tools in the garage went away. Not quite what we hoped for, but the contractor called tonight, and it sounds like tomorrow could be insulation day. There's a lot left to do, but it's split into a bunch of small jobs that need to happen in the right order.

Scratch that, the phone just rang. Insulation is now scheduled for Wednesday.

More of the same...

Didn't I already have a post by that title?

Arrrrrghhhh, she says!

Mike's crew did a bit more framing. This photo shows the new entrances to the basement and kitchen.

There were inspections on Friday. There was a change needed in framing by one of the windows. Unfortunately there was a lot of electrical stuff in that area. In the spirit of getting the framing done, the electricity for lighting was shut off in the kitchen, breezeway and the main area of the basement. On Friday afternoon. Late. Hopefully the electrician will be here to power us back on tomorrow. It feels a little old-fashioned to pay attention to getting the dishes done while it's light outside!

The plumber stopped by on Saturday morning to fix one spot where his pipes had to move because of the Friday inspections. He also got the hot and cold on the proper sides in Elizabeth's tub.

Mick has been busy with Great Stuff cans, plugging all the holes around wires that pass between the floors. He also double-checked and secured the central vac piping.

The last piece of glued-down flooring between the dining room and living room came out, and the good sub-floor is now down underneath the piano and fridge, and extends a little way into the living room.

We had the living room carpet rolled back to slide the plywood underneath. Mick wouldn't let me cut it back any more. This carpet has been through three dogs, one toddler, two construction projects and a glass of red Koolaid. It's on my list.

Our hopes for this week: passing inspections, getting insulation, installation of the shower stall on the first floor.

Sheetrock? Doubtful.

Garage gourmet

Mock Lobster Alfredo

Make a roux in a large skillet:
1 small onion
2 T butter
2 T flour

Add:
2-3 cups milk (no measuring when you cook in the garage!)
1 cup shredded parmesan (use the real stuff, you know, the container that you pitched into the freezer a couple months ago that was getting short on date)
2 packages lobster chunks (like Krab, only better)

In a separate pot, cook 1/2 package egg noodles. When the noodles are almost done, add a pound of asparagus. Drain veggies and noodles and add to parmesan pan!

Measuring up...

The insulation guy stopped over tonight to discuss our insulation. He'll be back next week to blow in closed-cell foam in the outside walls and sills.

Mick just measured to see what the space gained was in our kitchen. He calculates the difference to 38 square feet. I include the "corner of contention" in the tally and arrive at 51 square feet. Any way you look at it, that's pretty good for not changing the footprint of the house.

Plumbing and general inspections are happening tomorrow.

The picture project...

Yesterday's project was to take photos of all the walls, with a ruler and identifying sign held up. It's boring, but we'll know where our pipes, wires, and vents are. That might save us some excitement in the future.

The contractor left a message that the shower unit has arrived. The insulation crew needs to come before that can be installed. We are doing blown in cellulose, I think.

Doors!

Last Friday we went to Badger Corrugating and finally made a decision on the doors to the kitchen and basement. They need to be exterior doors, since the breezeway is not heated and cooled. We really considered solid wood, because they are inside and protected from the weather. This theory became a challenging search that would require strong funding and yield minimal warranty.

Eventually we gave in and picked out two fiberglass doors. They are fancier than I had envisioned, but not too elaborate. Sometimes it just makes sense to go with the flow.

The weekend flew by with lots of little projects. Nothing photo-worthy at home, although Elizabeth attended her first big-girl birthday party. Esmerelda had a "Princess Party". It was a little chaotic, but that's to be expected with at least 15 kiddos and their grown up friends. They all had a great time at the fiesta.

It's quiet.

It's quiet.

I think Friday was the first day in a couple weeks without workers here. HVAC, plumbing, and electrical rough-ins are done. The carpenters have a few minor things left.

We've been busy, but there's not much that's visibly exciting to see. Mick has been running cable and phone wire like a mad-man. We decided to wall-mount an upstairs TV while we had access to the base of the stud bay. If you haven't shopped for a TV mounting bracket, hold onto your credit card, and do a little shopping around. I researched the models at Best Buy, and we went there and bought a bracket and some wire. Since we were close by, we decided to pick something up at Home Depot. Out of curiousity, we checked their brackets, expecting to see more of the same stuff. They had a different brand with the same features for almost half the price. Their spool of cable was significantly cheaper too. The TV is up and feels secure, and the Best Buy bag is being returned untouched. After the TV was up, we remembered that it is hooked to a TiVo that uses a phone line. Run phone line.

Mick has also been running pipes for a central vac. We did this in the first phase of our remodel years ago, in preparation for actually buying a vac unit. I think this time we'll hook the pipes up to something!