What I came home to after work ...part two

No, this is not deja vous, although it may seem it.

This is what I came home to one evening after work in my bathroom, does anyone else but me see a pattern? I go to work, everything is in order, no major holes in outside walls... I come home and voila there is a hole.


Yes, this is what my master bathroom looked like, and although I would adore the opportunity to tell you that this is unnecessary, all these tools and chaos are simply part of the process. You can see behind the toilet is the window we were putting in. My parents found this window for 25.00 at Habitat- it is etched glass so it has a great privacy feel for the bathroom. It was made to be a window you would put in your front door but my Dad skillfully created a way to put it where the old bathroom window was!
I'm admiring the hole in my exterior wall. See the smaller frame in the hole? That is the frame to the new window and my Dad specially crafted a way to build this in! Here is the window coming together.

Unfortunately it is hard to get a good photo of the new window in place 1. my camera was dying 2. the bathroom is small and it is difficult to get far enough back to get a nice photo. Thusly- here it is Mom & Dad, this is what you've been calling about to see for two days now.





I will include a few snow photos too. Just for fun, although I didn't get the best photos (camera battery dying) and it was dark...

Armando & Matthew visiting...

"Jess...I need you to come push me out of the ditch"

Thirty minutes in the rain = dinnertime conversation when asked "what'd you do at jess's today?"



No fear it is safe to travel here, we got his car out and well I unhooked the phone incase he has any trouble down the road...


















Because everyone wants to know, this weekend I snagged a ceiling fan with a remote (which wouldn't be so exciting but that it was something I needed for the living room to make things easier- long story) on the end of aisle clearance, on the floor under other boxes for $35 bucks!Once again a quick trip to lowes and I'm returning with more projects that I came across! I honestly had no part in the installation of this, Dad put it all up and Steven did the fan blades which he has become a professional at as I continue to slowly buy clearanced/deep discounted ceiling fans! I think what is most fantastic about this last minute project I brought home is that it is already completed- I purchased it yesterday and it was installed last night! If you knew the waiting list around here for projects you would understand the need for excitement!

We also managed to put up the recessed lighting that goes in front of the sliding glass door in the soffit. - It is just fantastic looking for 30$ it made a great change in look! Of course I still have to paint the soffit but we're once again on the downhill with yet another project!

As we say goodbye to the stock pile of windows on the deck...

"YOUR DAD HAS A GOOD RATIONALE FOR WHAT HE IS DOING"

-These are the words of my Mom when I call her Wednesday night on my drive home from work. It is dark out but has been 70degrees today. I can only imagine what he has rationalized. I come home to see the image to the left, except it is dark and rapidly becoming colder as the low was in the 20s that night. We hung a heavy blanket over the window and I informed my Dad he had won the right to sleep in the master bedroom! I was not sleeping in a room with only a blanket to protect me from an intruder.( Yes, that is Addie sitting on the diving board - it is one of her favorite places to perch outside)

PHEW. This has been a big relief and I'm sure my Dad would agree - a great feeling to know that hurdle is over! Of course there are still things to be done with them (trim work, me needing to paint the brick moulding (wood trim that goes around the window outside), etc. However, they're now installed, no more sitting on the deck and I plan to attempt to take some of the old ones to habitat ...hey we all need a tax credit every now and then right?

Lately we've been going even more GREEN at the house. I was really impressed my Dad managed to reuse a lot of wood to save money (oh yeah and uhh save the earth too) and has come up with crafty ways that make me the penny pincher happy. Side note- instead of purchasing new recessed lighting for the living room I simply sanded/painted the old ones
< savings =" $30+"> I purchased 2 new to me back lights to go outside the 9foot sliding glass door at Habitat for $10, painted with some black spray paint I already had and voila I have saved easily 90$. Of course you can't beat the best deal of all 9 free windows with free installation courtesy of Dad! Should I even admit I scoffed at having to spend 200$ for the trim for the windows when we saw on a house flipping show the same type of windows in a small house cost the flipper 17,000 to purchase and install!? Oh-well- guess I just admitted to it!

Tonight Dad and I are discussing the projects to be completed before he goes home for his "winter break" that will really be no such thing as he plans to help his friend remodel his house while he's home!

Things to be completed:
-New lights installed (although I'm gaining more confidence that I can do this myself, the wiring actually isn't that difficult)
-all light switches/receptacles need replacing but we've been going room by room slowly but surely
-soffit needs put up with recessed lighting for outside the sliding glass door installed
-trim work for windows...
-drywall mudding finishing up- not an inch of my house is untouched from drywall dust
-bathrooms remodeled (this is scheduled for after christmas)
-kitchen countertops replaced, new flooring put down, new trim work(new chair rail, door casing, crown molding, etc)
-living room registers cut open for heating/ac
-light bedroom door jamb work
-dining room remodel ( will be the final room to do)

So the more I type I get a little overwhelmed, but when you're at this point in the game you can see the downhill, the possibility of just doing weekend projects versus working 7 days a week and maybe, just maybe, not having to sweep the floors in the entire house everyday.

Everybody loves photos, how about a little update of the bedroom window fun!

My Dad knew the moment he saw me take this photo (which he didn't appreciate) that this would make the cut for the blog. Yes, this is my bed and now you know why I'm currently washing my sheets!














I only post the photo of what my deck looks like so you can appreciate how excited I am as it becomes less and less cluttered, most of the wood/things you see are from the recent window remodels and we're using the wood for firewood!

...and of course the finished window, with new drywall to boot!

...More windows

This weekend we had even more fun, if you can imagine- we put in a new double kitchen window!

Here's yet another hole in my house, yes on a rainy Saturday and a freezing Sunday we had a HUGE opening, brr!















Now for a picture gallery of what it is like to be a SERIOUS re-modeler!














Mom and I are modeling the hole where we are just about to put the window! Yes, all that is on my deck :)

...it is a wonderful life

Just a little update honestly for my Mom who wants to see the Christmas tree in the very very close to being finished cozy living room. Drastically changed is how I describe the living room. It now has a soothing green color to the walls, the wainscoting adds this element of warmth, elegance and ties the room in to feel very cozy. It's just perfect! The crown molding is up, replaced the existing with 4inch, double the original size. The window/door is trimmed and I've done most of my painting work.

Despite my reservations of putting up a tree in an area where drywall dust is flying daily from frequent sanding in the hallway just a few feet away I went ahead and put up my modest tree.

















....And today we straightened out the front door which originally seemed to be hung wrong. It is now great! The drywall is coming in nicely thanks to my Dad's diligent sanding and somewhat compulsive desire to reach perfection...And notice my $5.00 white light from habitat!

As promised...THE WORLD OF WINDOWS continues!

Due to time constraints (wanting to keep working on the house) I shall mainly post several photos of what has gone on here since yesterday (Monday) afternoon. Keep in mind it is Tuesday! Unfortunately the formatting for this program isn't agreeing to me so the photos are not matching up to the text when this is posted- I apologize for the confusion but I think you can figure it out!

Here you see the original triple window that glows in to the dining room/hallway by the front door. Originally I wanted to restore this triple window with three more bigger/new windows. That being said I currently have a double in place- in order to put the triple back in we would have had to tear the wall even more apart and my Dad would have needed to build a new header ( a beam that supports the wall above a window or door). Having done this already when we put in the 9foot sliding glass door and the new living room windows I didn't want to put my Dad through more unnecessary work. Plus- his friend Jason was coming from SC and I wanted us to be ready to roll when he got here to help put windows in! All this in short, I have a two new bigger windows in place of the three smaller ones!





Here we've just got the windows out, yes it is raining outside. No that part wasn't fun.













Now they've cut down the wall to fit for the new longer windows. And here is the " it is fitted " look! Obviously we will have to put up new siding and finish trimming the window in.

Even John was having fun! It was only sprinkling by about 9:30 when we decided to move on to the guest bedroom window.



Here Jason and Dad are cutting apart a double window to get ready to put single windows in the bedrooms.
















The guest bedroom window being straightened out to perfection the next morning.







The front view of the house with all new bigger windows!

Wainscoting & the joy of updating a living room continues...

Here you see where we are tonight as we are on the homestretch as the wainscoating comes together!


Since I last posted we've been busy putting up the rest of the drywall and my Dad has generously done all the sanding for this project, the sanding gives me the nails on the chalkboard feel because every now and then I scrape my fingernail on it and that is just no good! The sanding and mudding was a huge undertaking- it took three plus coats in some areas- ie: mudding/sanding, mudding/sanding, mudding/sanding...now you get the picture. Then of course priming the wall- this piece of the project wasn't so bad and it was greatly rewarding to see the progress of how it looks to no longer have dated paneling but drywall up, my clean, fresh canvas to create my very own first home within.
Because a picture is worth 1,000 words here's where we will start this post. Things are not always what meets the eye, there is so much more that goes on with these projects than one could imagine. Particularly what comes to mind when I look at this plywood was simply the process of purchasing it. My Dad and I scouted for the best prices, researched what product would yield the expected result and went over the budget time and time again. Eventually on October 30th we set out to Talberts Building Supply at 7am, trailer in tow. I was dressed as a Sheriff since the hospital was celebrating Halloween on a Friday and we were attempting to make this purchase before I went to work. Much to my surprise the staff at Talberts were having a costume contest and I fit right in! Plus- they gave us the supplies at contractor pricing!

In order to create the recessed panel look we had to create this type of frame with cut BC plywood (my effort to save over $100 versus using already cut southern yellow pine). It took three of us to handle the plywood on the table saw but the effort was well worth it!

Below: the frames primed and ready for trim!

adios wood paneling!

Goodbye paneling, hello world of drywall.

Would you say it was a freudian slip that as I type "Hello world of drywall" my first go round it read "Hell world of drywall". For anyone who has spent anytime with it, you understand. . . Although my Dad corrected me last night- I really hadn't been dry walling, I had been kind of helping put it up. Logistics! I overcame my fear of standing on the top ladder step as I fixed insulation in the peek of the ceiling of the living room, felt a strong dislike for having to put plastic up everywhere as a moisture barrier. Oh did I mention? We replaced a lot of the insulation after tearing the paneling off prior to putting up drywall. In fact as I'm getting paged from work even though I don't start for another three hours I'm looking at the wall thinking you have no idea when you asked "I hate to bother you, are you in the middle of something?"

So that you can begin to appreciate this- one of the issues my Dad had with this particular house was the siding on the right fireplace side bowed out in a spot- although the foundation hadn't moved, fireplace stiff in place, the siding was bowing... well he found the reason after he opened up the wall and had to replace a few studs- the studs the builder had used had bowed out, pushing the siding of the house out. Un-nailing the siding, fixing some studs and re-nailing hours later ...voila ! We have perfect siding.

Now I know I skipped ahead a few beats but I'm going to catch you up so that you too can have as much fun as we are having on the daily basis here at Valeria Spa and Salon- ha ha ha!



To the left is the original sleep station # 1 in the living room, it is hard to tell with the photo quality but that is the old paneling and small single window that has been replaced by the double window and drywall !

Below is another photo of the very much lacking front wall of the living room. You can see the progression of the work- sleep stations have been moved to the bedrooms and we now have living room furniture being stored in the middle of the room and covered in an attempt to salvage until the remodeling is done and I hope to purchase new!




Next came drywall after the sheer pleasures of tearing down all the old paneling and fixing the insulation.See how much better it is with no paneling, new window and new floors!?

So...as we're in the middle of this and we're debating about french doors, no doors, what kind of door(s) I want coming from the kitchen to the living room my Dad mentions a pocket door. Now that the pocket door I decided would be great is finally cased in and I'd say nearly done he won't admit it, but I'm guessing he regretted at some point offering this as a choice. It was necessary to make a choice at this point so we could finish the drywall on that end of the room. You may notice there's only drywall on the upper 2/3 of the wall that is because I hope to put a waynes coating(not sure this is the proper name/spelling) on the lower 1/3.

Pocket door! The original opening was 30inches but I wanted the biggest you could do with the pocket door so we went for 36inch. My Dad surprised me with a 6 panel door for this opening as we'll continue to watch for a 15 light door to put in this pocket!

What I came home from work to...

We all like surprises every now and then, right?
... The conversation with my Dad went like this (I call home about 8pm Friday night while eating dinner at work).
Me "Hi Dad, what's going on?"
Dad "Oh,,, not too much"
Me "What'd you work on today?"
Dad " Oh you know, nothing much... I got a little bored today"
Me "WHAT? How could you possibly be bored?"
Dad "Well I kind of came to a standstill on the floor, the drywall needs little pieces, you know"
Me " Is there a hole in the wall Dad? Is there a hole in MY WALL DAD?"
Dad "Noo, no hole right now"
Me "Did you cut a hole in the wall today Dad? Did you demo something Dad ?"
Dad "Nope, no hole right now, I'll see you when you get home"
Me "You are so lucky I'm at work, I will see you tonight!"

When I got home this is what I saw, except it was dark and he had respectfully boarded it shut!

The old window was completely gone, shutters down. I had left my father alone in my home for over 10 hours.

I'm outback mowing the grass and I hear my Dad yelling for backup. He and Steven had cut "just a tiny bit in the side of the house for the new windows, could I come clean the boards up?" Not to mention work some magic on the inside of the house too. (Recall the living room had paneling so to fit the window we had to take down all the paneling on this wall, then comes drywall!)

For those of you new to home revamping a shop vac is a must have!

...What happened next I'll keep to my family and the neighbors...As the sun started to set tonight I walked two houses down and asked for lifting help from our neighbor. I joke you not, his family and the couple next door came walking down the road. Next thing I knew our man power had nearly tripled!The good news is the window is in place and just needs the trimming/shimming/finishing work!





...and if you turn 180 degrees this is what you see behind you!The living room is coming together, the floors are down, the new door is in place- the window is settling in and next step will be putting in drywall on the remaining two walls of paneling.


This weekend alone we got the window in, finished the floor and Steven seeded/fertilized the front yard in an attempt to grow grass that matches. That's a whole different topic for a different day!

Here's the jeep with the "yard things"

in the back!
Who said a jeep isn't a multi-purpose vehicle?!