To Do List

I've updated the To Do List!

Living Through The Renovation

We are officially living in our new house!  We moved all of our "things" over from the apartment on Saturday the 27th, Sunday the 28th, and Monday the 29th.  It was completely exhausting, overwhelming, and frustrating but over and done with, and now we can slowly start putting things in their places around the house.

On Tuesday the 30th, I spent six hours (yeah, 6 hours!) cleaning the apartment.  I had anticipated it being a three hour job, but I was sadly mistaken.  The refrigerator and stove themselves took and hour each to clean.  And just so you know, we are not dirty people!  I cleaned these appliances regularly, but I was so worried that they were going to charge us up the backside to clean them that I wanted to make sure they were spotless!  By the time I was done, the apartment looked like it did the day we moved in (apart from the carpets).  Mark completed our final walk through with the apartment's management on the 31st and turned our keys in.  When Mark came home he brought with him the cleaning/repairs report.  They basically stated that they needed to clean everything again and that touch up painting and carpet cleaning was needed.  So who the heck knows how much they are going to charge us!  It's out of my hands now and I'm moving on! :)

We've all had some late nights this week.  I've been moving things into the rooms that they will live in and getting the master closet organized.  Everyone else worked on the floors, the guest bathroom, closet organizers, and ceiling fans.  Also, our cable, phone line, and Internet was set up on Wednesday.  I love the TV background noise!  It's really starting to feel more like a home.  We see the light at the end of the tunnel;  hopefully everything will be done by the end of September!  I can't wait to celebrate with family and friends!

Debbie and Atorina grouting the master shower.

Keith and Mark hanging the guest bathroom's mirror.

Guest bathroom vanity

Master bedroom's closet

Family room

Kitchen

Bar top counter

Dining room

New Additions

I haven't been on for a while and have much to talk about!

All of our counter tops have been glued down and the garbage disposal and sink faucet have been installed!

Last week the guys laid down the flooring in the living room.  It looks amazing!  Because the color is variegated, it will match any furniture we bring in.  The guys will move into the family room, kitchen, and dining room next.

The ceiling fan in the family room has been installed because the guys are going to need the light for laying down the floors.  I love the brushed nickel and maple look it has!  We also purchased a matching one for the living room.

Keith and Mark have been hard at work putting the slate up in the master and guest showers.  They will be all finished with them tonight!  The natural stone looks beautiful and adds a sophistication and elegance to the the bathrooms.

More updates to come!

To-Do List

Let us revisit the to-do list...

-Purchase and install the kitchen counter tops, DONE.
-Install kitchen appliances, DONE.
-Install washer and dryer, DONE.
-Purchase two ceiling fans and a chandelier, DONE.
-Install six ceiling fans and a chandelier, DONE.
-Purchase and install a pantry door, DONE.
-Put the backsplash up in the kitchen, DONE.
-Purchase and install four closet organizers, DONE.
-Install all new electrical outlets and light switches, DONE.
-Install all heating/air vents, DONE.
-Texture and paint the two bathrooms, DONE.
-Purchase (DONE) and install a double vanity for the master bathroom, DONE.
-Purchase (DONE) and install a shower door for the matster bathroom.
-Purchase (DONE) and install a vanity for the guest bathroom, DONE.
-Purchase (DONE) and install bathroom lighting, DONE.
-Purchase and install granite panels for the two showers...we've gone with slate instead, DONE.
-Purchase and install the master bathroom's shower floor pan, DONE.
-Purchase blinds for the dining room, DONE.
-Install blinds for the dining room, living room, guest bedrooms, and master bedroom, DONE.
-Install new flooring, DONE.
-Purchase and install trim for the front door, sliding glass door, and pantry door, DONE.
-Purchase and install new baseboards, DONE.
-Sand down the window sills, door frames, doors, and linen closet/cabinet, DONE.
-Paint the window sills, door frames, baseboards, doors, and linen closet/cabinet, DONE.
-Touch up the paint that's in hard to reach places, DONE.
-Put all the doors back up.
-Clean, clean, clean.

We still have a bit more to do, but we are getting there!  Keith and Zaia have been working in the bathrooms all weekend.  They've been prepped and hopefully will be done in the next week or so.  The granite for the kitchen counter tops will be picked up and installed today!  We can't wait to see how it looks!

Ambiance

Everything and the Kitchen Sink

Mom said I am lucky because it is going to be so easy for me to do dishes in a sink this size with counters the height that they are.  I said she could come over and do dishes any time if she wanted to know what it was like!  She politely declined...

The granite counter tops have been ordered and will be ready for pick-up on Monday!  It's going to look so beautiful!

Getting Ready for Counter Tops

A lot of hard work has been put into installing the kitchen cabinets.  I'm happy to report that we are almost ready for our counter tops! 

Keith Mello was very busy yesterday.  Not only did he try to give us a heart attack and cause temporary deafness with the nail gun (which he is so completely proud of because he found it at a garage sale for $2), but he, Mark, and Ted fit the cabinets with the plywood that's going to support the granite.  As punishment for the heart attack and temporary deafness, Debbie decided that she would walk around the house and sing at the top of her lungs because she knew it would annoy the heck out of him.  After about five minutes, she and I were laughing so hard at his complaints she couldn't finish singing her song!  Today, he is going to make the cut-out for the kitchen sink and measure all of the tops so that we can order the granite this weekend.

Hopefully by next week we can check off a few more items from our to-do list.

2 1/2 Weeks To Go!

We feel our deadline creeping up on us.  It's the nagging feeling we are desperately shooing away.  It's the reality check we've, so very much, needed.

So, here is what we have left to do.  You be the judge.  Will we make our deadline?  I sure hope so...
-Purchase and install the kitchen counter tops.
-Install kitchen appliances.
-Install washer and dryer.
-Purchase two ceiling fans and a chandelier.
-Install six ceiling fans and a chandelier.
-Purchase and install a pantry door.
-Purchase and install four closet organizers.
-Install all new electrical outlets and light switches.
-Install all heating/air vents.
-Texture and paint the two bathrooms.
-Purchase and install a double vanity for the master bathroom.
-Purchase and install granite panels for the two showers.
-Purchase and install the master bathroom's shower floor pan.
-Purchase blinds for the dining room.
-Install blinds for the sun room, dining room, living room, and master bedroom.
-Install new flooring.
-Purchase and install trim for the front door and sliding glass door.
-Purchase and install new baseboards.
-Sand down the window sills, door frames, doors, and linen closet/cabinet.
-Paint the window sills, door frames, baseboards, doors, and linen closet/cabinet.
-Touch up the paint that's in hard to reach places.
-Clean, clean, clean.

Busy, busy bees for the next two and a half weeks!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

A kitchen!

And a bedroom!

Done and Done!

Primering, done.

Painting, done.

Kitchen cabinets, installed.

Kitchen lighting, done.

Window treatments, done.

Keith spraying on some PVA!

Zaia sanding down the linen cabinets.

Ed Mello giving a helping hand.

Added Pics

I've added a couple of new pictures to the following posts:
"PVA," "Super Women and Men of Ceiling Scraping," and "Demolition."

Be sure to check them out!

Décor

I want the house to be done because I'm dying to decorate!

My mother and I have been buying cute decorative items here and there, but because I don't have anywhere to store them and because I'm on a budget, we have to pace ourselves.

My decorative style is a little bit modern, a little bit traditional, and a little bit shabby-chic.  I'm obsessed with taking vintage items and using them in modern ways.  My biggest purchase so far has been a vintage door straight from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania!  It's amazing and I'm going to use it as my headboard!  Because of this purchase, I am completely obsessed with old doors.  I want to put them all over my house!

The next décor project I need to tackle is lighting.  I need ceiling fans and outdoor lighting.  I'm not looking forward to it.  Last week, my mother and I went to Lowe's ready and willing to buy ceiling fans.  I was dead set on buying white ones until I saw the beautiful oil-rubbed bronze ones and the black and silver ones.  For $10-$20 more per fan I could get something that looks better than a plain white fan.  We were there for 45 minutes staring up and discussing where I could put what.  So, we decided that I needed to reevaluate the situation.  We have three or four white fans hanging out in the garage of the house that we pulled out of the rooms before retexturing.  If I can clean those up and make them presentable, I can use them in the bedrooms and sun room.  Then, instead of buying three fans, I can buy two new, upgraded fans to go in the living room and family room and a pretty chandelier to go in the dining room!  It's a fantastic idea! 

I haven't even attempted to look for outdoor lighting...

My "new" headboard!

Let There Be Light

Out with the old, florescent lighting and in with the new recessed lighting! 

What we had before the brilliant recessed lighting was an old, crooked, fluorescent lamp fixture in the middle of the kitchen ceiling and two, burnt, eyeball lights above the seating area of the bar-top counter.  Why was the lamp fixture crooked?  Well, from what I understand, an air vent was added in the ceiling after the previous owners moved in and because the air vent was placed right next to the fixture they had to shift the end of the fixture over to make room for it, you know, instead of just shifting the entire fixture over about an inch or two.  There is nothing to say about the eyeball lights...that whole situation is just weird.

Six, six-inch, recessed lights have been installed in the middle of the kitchen ceiling and two more, smaller, recessed lights have been added above where the kitchen sink will be.  Also, we will have three pendant lights, which I am totally in love with, hanging directly over the bar-top counter.

In the end, we are going to have a beautifully lit kitchen!

One Step Closer

The entire house has been textured!  After tomorrow it will be ready for primer.  You know what that means...PVA!  But, I don't hate it as much as I did last week.  Wanna know why?  It's going to be sprayed on and I'm not the one who has to do it (sorry Keith)!  The kitchen cabinets are scheduled to be delivered in a few days, so everything will need to be painted before they can be installed.  This will be our project for this week.

It's all coming along beautifully.  We are one step closer to the end!

PVA

P-V-A.  The first time I heard those three letters put together to make a "word" was this past Sunday.  "What's PVA?" you ask.  Well, now I'm an expert in PVA and can tell you exactly what it is.  It's primer.  Yup, primer.  It's purpose...to prime the walls, that have been newly textured, for new paint.  And it's a pain in the neck to put on the walls.  And no, it's not enough to buy a paint that already has primer in it.  I promise.

New texture that was sprayed on the walls acts as a sponge.  If it's not sealed it will absorb all of your paint and you will end up wasting the paint and spending a whole lot of money.  So that's where the PVA comes in.  It needs to be rolled on and let dry for 24 hours before you paint.  However, the texture does the same thing to it as it does to paint...it absorbs all of it up and if you're not quick with the paint roller it looks uneven, patchy, and completely ugly.  Yes, I know it's just primer, but I'm completely OCD and can't handle it looking that way.  And that is exactly how the first wall I painted looked, which completely frustrated me.  In the midst of my frustration, in walks the stud, Keith, to show me how it's done.  Apparently, I was being stingy with the stuff.  You need to soak up the roller with the PVA.  Huh, imagine that.  Needless to say, after two hours I completed one bedroom's walls, ceiling, and closet.  My mom came in behind me and took care of all of the corners and around the door frames and windows.  Mark worked on another bedroom and Debbie worked on the dining room, but because we ran out of PVA they were only able to finish half of each room.  So, tomorrow we have to buy more PVA to complete the two incomplete rooms.

And the whole house is going to have new texture, so you know what that means...

Beautifying and Texturing

Betty and Ted spent this past weekend working in the front and back yards.  They pulled out ugly bushes and flowers, trimmed the bushes we are keeping, and tidied up the flower beds.

While they were outside, Keith, Dennis, and Mark were inside prepping to texture the walls and ceilings of the three bedrooms and the dining room by taping up the windows, door frames, and door ways.  It was a huge job and a long process, but these guys are pros and it looks amazing!

Dennis and Keith mixing texture while Ted and Mark look on.

Mark, with Keith's help, textured walls.

Mark mixing up another batch of texture.

Super Women and Men of Ceiling Scraping

It's been nine days since we began working on the house.  We've accomplished quite a bit, but our biggest accomplishment has been the removal of the popcorn ceiling in all of the rooms.

My mother asked, "Why in the hell would they do this?!"  in reference to putting in a popcorn ceiling.  Apparently, this type of ceiling was popular in the seventies and eighties, but nowadays...not so much! 

On Tuesday the 12th, Debbie and I scraped off the popcorn ceiling in two of the bedrooms and the dining room.  It took six and a half hours to complete!  What was nice about this job was that the ceilings were flat, not slanted.  This was not the case for the last three rooms that needed to be worked on. 

On Thursday the 14th, Debbie and I spent three and a half hours scraping the master bedroom's ceiling, which was slanted.  Once we got to the highest point in the ceiling, we took turns using the tallest ladder we had.  One person would scrape while the other would hold on to the ladder.  By the time we were done with the master bedroom, my dad, Eric, Sophie, Keith, and Mark showed up.  We took a quick break and moved on to the family room.  With the help of Sophie, Eric, and Mark, the family room took about an hour to finish.  Eric and Mark, using some serious upper body strength, scraped the ceiling with long-handled scrapers.  The popcorn crap came off in large sheets!  It was fantastic!

The living room, aka the front room, was the one we saved for last.  Because the highest point of the room is 12'6", scaffolding was needed to reach the ceiling.  Yesterday, the 17th, scaffolding was brought in and the scraping went underway.  After three hours, about two-thirds of the ceiling was scraped and patched.  The rest will be scraped this week.

It was seriously satisfying getting this done!

Debbie and I after we finished scraping the master bedroom's ceiling.

Debbie using scaffolding to scrape the ceiling in the living room.  She's fearless!

Debbie, Atorina, and I patching up the ceiling after it's been scraped.