Finishing Touches

These pictures are out of date, but I really needed to update our Dream Home Blog.  A couple of weeks before our open house, my dad came over to help us with the last minute fixes, installation, and “polish” on our house.  It was mstly touch up painting, painting doors, and odds and ends.

      

While the three of us worked our tails off trying to get everything done, Emma was the official picture taker.  Obviously it wasn’t too difficult a task because she had plenty of time to work hard, too.  She worked hard at shooting targets on the Wii. 

It was a great weekend, and we got everything done!

The Paint Job

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!  Huge sigh of relief!  One more very big project is complete – the exterior paint.  Mom and Dad came over last weekend and we painted

Progress – December 18

Hey, guess what’s finished?  The Deck.  I’m not kidding, teasing, or telling a fib in any way – well okay maybe a little one.  Technically its not done because we still need railing and steps, but the decking is done.  Aaron worked really hard today to get it finished, and it looks great!

  

Tom and Dad finished installing the range top and down-draft vent today.   At first they couldn’t figure out how to get the vent to turn on.  The could get it to raise and lower just fine, but the fan wouldn’t turn on. Finally, they resorted to reading the instructions (novel idea there, guys!  )  At any rate, after reading the instructions, they realized there is an ON/OFF switch on the side of the vent.  You have to actually turn it on to get it to work. 

   

The faucet and reverse osmosis drinking tap are both installed on the kitchen sink, and now it can be installed.  Tom learned from his experience with the range, and he’s reading the sink directions.

  

Lots of nail holes have been filled, and they’re ready to be sanded tomorrow so we can touch up the paint.  The girls’ bathroom vanity hardware is installed.  The two outlets on the island bar are finished.  The neverending list seems to grow and grow and grow, but I know we will overtake it soon and it will shrink and shrink and shrink!

Progress – December 13

Today we were able to scratch some items off The Punchlist.  We didn’t get to scratch very many off because there are a bunch of things in progress, but we didn’t add any new ones which is great!

Even though the siding was complete a couple of days ago, I had to post this picture of Tom nailing the very last piece up.  It was a monumental day!  AND, Dad and Tom got it finished just in time - yesterday was FRIGID, and today we have snow (we almost NEVER have snow). 

Today, Tom made the plywood base for the kitchen counter top to sit on, so now we can actually “see” what our kitchen will look like with the counter top installed.  I also brought my plants from home so I could pack up the shelf they were sitting on.  They’re keeping our little Christmas Tree company.

  

Also today, Tom installed the pendant lights above the island in the kitchen.  They look GREAT!  They are from the same collection as our Dining Room chandelier.

  

While Tom was busy completing projects Dad, Aaron, and Jason got started laying the laminate flooring!  They completed the long hallway at the girls’ end of the house, and moved on into the Great Room.  Before we quit working for the evening, they had completed from the West wall of the Great Room through the East wall of the Foyer.  I am amazed what a difference the laminate makes – it is GORGEOUS!  Dad thinks they will finish the Great Room and Dining Room for sure Sunday.  The North side of the kitchen has a lot of funny angles and short pieces, so he’s not sure if they’ll get that hallway and the office done today or not (I’m betting they do, if not, they’ll be darn close!).

   

My parents took their BBQ grill home a month or so ago.  When you don’t have a grill to cook on all the time anymore, you improvise.  Last night we had turkey noodle soup, and the office floor became our makeshift kitchen.  Reagan was Nana’s helper, and she did a great job, it was YUMMY!

While the crew was hard at work at the new house, my mother-in-law, Susan, came over to our current house to help me pack.  After a little less than two hours, we were out of boxes and done for a the day!  We got a lot done, and I am so thankful for her help.

   

I’m excited to see what progress is made today.

Progress – December 9

So much has happened in the past seven days, it’s incredible!  I was really trying hard to post daily, but life took over and we were too busy!  My dad has started playing a game with me every day now.  When I show up at the property, I have to try to figure out what he got done instead of him telling me.  This all started Sunday.  The laminate floor in the storage room was VERY obvious.  After I looked at it for a little bit, he told me there were two things that he got done, but they would take “careful observation”.  I remembered him talking about being ready to put in the doorbell, so I looked there first.  BINGO!  The other thing took me a while.  I wandered around looking and looking, but I was having trouble finding it.  I wandered into Harley’s room, turned on the light, and I was looking around.  It finally occured to me that there weren’t any open holes in the walls anymore – the phone jacks are installed in the girls’ end of the house!  It’s pretty fun to go there and try to guess what has been accomplished each day now.  It’s like our own little “Where’s Waldo” or “I Spy” game.

Other changes that have happened . . .  the kitchen tile is now complete, grouted, and waiting for the grout sealer.  The countertop should be here sometime this week.

 

My dad’s friend, Steve (who is a contractor), came over Saturday to put in the concrete shower pan in our shower so we can get started tiling it.

 

Like I said above, the laminate floor is installed in the storage room.  So is all the trim, nail holes are filled, and the touch-up painting is done.  See that funny little “nook” next to Aaron in the picture where he’s filling the nail holes?  It’s the end of the shower  in the girls bathroom, and creates a perfect spot to store our card table and chairs.

    

Remember how I said that we should have waited to paint our room until AFTER we ordered our bedding, here?  Well, I finally managed to get the time to re-paint our room.  We decided to keep the chair-rail idea from the girls’ rooms going, and we split our walls and will install chair rail between the two colors.  The top half is a very pale gray, and the bottom is navy blue – called twilight.  It is very masculine looking for now.  Fortunately, the bedding has little flourishes of feminine embroidery, and between the bedding and the window treatments they will soften up this room.  We both liked the old color, but this room now just “feels” like us!  We love it!

  

Aaron and Dad decided it would be a really good idea to hang our mounts on the walls of the Great Room before we installed the laminate so the ladders didn’t damage the flooring.  After helping Aaron unload Goliath, Jason stuck around and helped him hang our mounts.  The first one to go up was Aaron’s buck on the vaulted wall on the kitchen side of the Great Room.  His name is NanaNanaBooBoo, and he was named by Katelyn when she was really little.  On the opposite wall, from left to right, are my buck, Aaron’s bull – Heartbreaker (one arrow right through the heart), and my antelope (pronghorn) named Percy.  I know the girls named my buck, too, but I just can’t remember what they named him.

     

Aaron has been working so hard to get this deck done, and he is so close!  We ran out of decking material, and he is waiting for the additional material to come in before he can finish it.

I am excited to see the changes that happen tomorrow while I’m at work, and I can’t wait to play my dad’s game again!

Progress – December 2

Lots and lots little things are complete!  I’m finally beginning to believe that this dream really is a reality and we will be moving in soon!

Mom finished painting all the trim boards today – a total of nearly 1300 linear feet!  They are ready to be installed now.

Dad grouted the girls’ bathroom today.  Now all we have to do to finish it is install the baseboard, toilet, mirrors, vanity, and sinks.  Woo hoo!

 

Dad also finished installing the tile around our tub.  It is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!  I knew my dad was called the “tile man” for a reason, and I’ve seen the tile work he did in their home, but I’ve never really realized how much of a tile ARTIST he really is!  Aaron and I are so impressed, and we are so absolutely thrilled with the way it looks.  The “empty” spot below the window will be filled in with the part of the window trim called the “apron”.  Thank you, Dad, for adding such a beautiful feature to our bathroom when it could have just been plain old square tile.  We both really really appreciate all your hard work.

   

So, to finish our bathroom, we have to install the counter, upper cabinets (2), faucets, sinks, toilet, trim, and the shower tile.

Aaron worked on the back deck again this afternoon, and he’s making great progress, too!

It’s like the story, The Little Engine That Could . . .

       I think we can, I think we can, I think we can, I know we can!

Progress – November 30

Dad compltely finished the Master Bathroom floor today.  All that’s left is the tub front, surround, and the shower!

  

I finished the Utility Room floor!

Mom and Katelyn continued to paint, and they put the painted doors back together.

  

Aaron continued working on the deck – only about 4 more feet (width, not length) to go!  He can’t wait for it to be done!  The deck and siding are the thorns in his side!

  

I learned something new today.  I learned how to lay tile, and I installed the Kitchen floor!  It is absolutely gorgeous!  It has so many varying colors, and it goes so well with the rest of our home, I am just thrilled!  It was actually really fun learning how to lay the tile, and I’m looking forward to doing it again soon!

   

Aaron and I head back to the grind of our real jobs tomorrow, and Mom & Dad will continue plugging away.

Progress – November 29

The theme for the day was “tedium”.  While all the changes happening to our home now are awesome and exciting, the process of making those changes can tend to be tedious, repetitive, and mindless.  It always amazes me that on days when we have tasks like this we are so much more worn out than we are on days where we have to work very hard physically and mentally.

Mom was once again painting.  Today she was painting chair rail and door casings.  She completely painted three of the four packages – 60 pieces each 16′ long.  Instead of painting the fourth package right away tomorrow, she will start painting the baseboard – I’ll explain why below.

Jason was there working with Aaron on siding again.  The garage side of the house is now complete and they finished half of the wall on the North side of the family room and Emma & Reagan’s Bedroom.  All that is left are the two wing North walls, three gables, and the siding around the back deck.  It sounds like a lot, but its really not.

Aaron helped put the remainder of the cement board in the Kitchen so we can start tiling it tomorrow.

Aaron and I both had our first lesson in tiling today.  We learned how to install the laminate tiles we purchased for the Mechanical Room and Utility Room.  Aaron worked in the Mechanical Room, and I installed the floor in the Utility Room.  We both finished except for a few little pieces that need to be cut here and there.  We actually have to purchase one more box of tiles before we can finish completely.  The remaining pieces I have to put down will cover the remainder of the entrance to The Dungeon, and then Utility Room will be complete - I actually could have finished tonight, but my hands were killing me! 

   

The best part about the floor being finished in the Utility Room?  It means the TOILET CAN BE INSTALLED, and we can get rid of that darn Honey House we’ve all been using for the past five months!  That is why Mom will be painting baseboard before she finishes the rest of the chair rail and door casings – it has to be installed before the toilet can be installed.  I guarantee none of us is more excited about the prospect of a real toilet than my parents who have been living in their camp trailer for the duration of this project. 

Remember the cut and paste tile pattern I posted yesterday?  It’s now finished and installed!  Dad finished the diagonal part of our bathroom today, and will complete the straight part of the pattern tomorrow.  Also on tap for tomorrow?  the front surface of the tub, and the tub surround.

 

Time for a good nights’ rest so we can be back at it tomorrow!

Updates & Lots of Progress

We have been busy little beavers the past couple of days.  Everyone has had a different job to do, but we’re getting it all done.

Mom and I have been painting doors.  The bi-fold closet doors are completely painted and put back together – two coats each.  We figured it out, and on the closet doors alone, we painted 84 coats of paint!  We’re working on painting the rest of the interior doors now.  We will be finished with the girls’ end of the house this morning, and we will start on our end of the house this afternoon.  Our new bedding has arrived, so it is time to pick out new paint to our room and I will be painting it agian.

 

Yesterday, while Mom was painting, I was banished to The Dungeon to finish the under-floor insulation.  There were six bays under the mechanical room, and the entire floor under the kitchen left to insulate, and I am proud to say IT IS ALL DONE!  We never have to even touch another piece of insulation again!  Tod thought he would help me while I was cutting a strip of insulation – he was bounding around on it like a rabbit, it was hilarious!

The dogs are still supervising all the action, and I know they make fun of us when we do something they think is funny.  Psssssst!  Luna, let me tell you a secret . . . .

Whenever the weather is nice enough, Dad, Tom, and Aaron have been working on siding and decking.  The siding is now 3/4 of the way done, with just a little left to do.  Aaron has been working diligently on the back deck, and he is about halfway done with it.  The decking now extends beyond the support posts.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . .

Floors are being installed!  Specifically, the tile floors!  Before he installed the tile, Dad had to lay down cement board.  Yesterday, he completed the tile in the girls’ bathroom!  I cannot believe the difference it makes in that room!  Their bathroom is so warm and inviting.  It is feminie looking without being too “girlie”  It is beautiful, and I can’t wait to see it completed!

   

Dad also started tiling our bathroom.  Thursday evening we were having a little design issue.  The big 16″x16″ tiles would not work with the pattern we had chosen, and Aaron suggested we use 12″x12″ tiles for the feature part of the layout, and use the 16″x16″ tiles for the remainder.  Problem solved.

 

Dad laid the center piece of our feature pattern, then the four pieces that touch each of its sides.  The two end pieces are just space holders while the thinset dried on the others.

Today, he will lift those two end tiles, and he’ll complete the pattern which will look like this (with some very obvious cut and paste work on my part):

We will only have this pattern on these three tiles, the remainder of the floor will be installed with the larger 16″x16″ tiles.  The shower and tub surround will use smaller tiles from the same collection.

As it is Thanksgiving weekend, we did take a little time to decorate for Christmas.  Mom and I decided that we could not spend an entire holiday season without a tree or any decorations in the new house, so we got a tree that will not hamper our work or be in our way in any manner.  It’s about two feet tall, and we’ll be able to move it around if we need to! 

   

We are definitely progressing, and at a quick pace.  MIssion “Finished by Christmas” is well on its way!

Picky, Picky, Picky!

Aaron and I are both very picky about colors and we have very different opinions about colors.  He *hates* red (seriously – I don’t believe hate is too strong of a word) and I *love* red – it’s one of my favorite colors.  I think Aaron would prefer to have all-white walls.  Me?  I want color everywhere!  He likes colors that are relaxing – cool and muted, and I like colors that are alive – vibrant and rich.

You would think that with all these differences that picking the various colors of paint, tile, cabinets, countertops, and other items for the house would have been very difficult.  Amazingly enough, it wasn’t.  He suggested the charcoal with white trim color for the outside, and I was against it at first until I saw a building with that exact color, and I loved it!  The colors for the inside of our home (except the girls’ rooms) are all vibrant and rich, but they are muted.  They please us both.

The problem with being picky is that some times you make a choice, and only after the fact decide against it because it’s just not quite right.  That is the case of our bedroom.  We both love the blue we chose, it is beautiful.  However, we did not purchase the bedding for our bedroom until after we painted, and now we’ve decided the original color just won’t work.  We should have taken a hint from what we made the girls do – pick their bedding and then pick the paint colors for their rooms based on their bedding.

Needless to say, we’ll be re-painting our bedroom based on our new bedroom set because we’re both so darn picky:

We’re thinking to make it a little more light and airy, and we’re definitely going to use two colors instead of just one like it is now:

So, I thought we were done with painting, but due to our own pickiness, we’re not.