And the Walls Come Tumbling Down

Bathroom vanity.

View from window, up north.

Southern view up north.

SBQ's beautiful quilt

The Cupboard was bare.

Cupboards are empty.

New wall in kitchen onto the addition.

Current pantry ;-)

Crew + decontruct.

Lots of hauling.

Soffits coming out.

View from the hallway.

Holly supervising assembly.

Ceiling coming down.

Mike chatting with the crew.

In the end, all the walls came down.

Easy Closets  

There has been lots of activity this past week.  We broke through to the addition, all the tile was set. The kitchen was gutted.  Appliances are ordered, and miscellaneous items are being delivered daily.  This week we are down to a snack/coffee station upstairs in the bedroom.  Life is interesting.

Last weekend  I journeyed with my gal friends up north for a lovely respite.  We had a wonderful time sewing and visiting.  I returned home on Monday with a note from the crew that the kitchen would be gutted the very next day.  Luckily, it was already 80% empty and much of the remainder was in plastic shoe boxes that I just slid out.  It only took me a couple hours.

The easy closets arrived, all 19 boxes and 580+ pounds of it, the bathroom medicine cabinets, the kitchen cupboards will arrive in 4 weeks.  The flooring will be coming in next week.  We have made a decision to order a lift, a ramp in the garage would have taken up a lot of real estate, the lift will be so wonderful.

By for now.

Crew working in the laundry.

Siding completed on front.

Porch is taking shape.

Quartz with the cabinet finishes.  One on left is being changed to a calmer style.

Office is taking shape.

View of shower tile, accent stripe coming on Wed.

Well it has been a couple of weeks since I have posted.  Things are really beginning to roll. A couple times each week we need to get out, make a final decision and either order or go and pickup some items.

This past week there was a bit of  stress, the initial kitchen wall measurement was incorrect, meaning that wall of the kitchen wouldn't hold the design. Yikes!  Well after thinking about the alterations overnight, then sitting down with the designer for a couple hours on Saturday, we took the opportunity to tweak our design. It will be fabulous.

The floor in the laundry is down and I expect the grout to be done perhaps on Friday or Monday. The bathroom vanity is waiting in the garage.  The painter is painting trim and getting ready for the final coat on the walls.

We ordered our "Easy Closets" (for the master closet) this week and expect them tomorrow.....all 19 boxes and 581 pounds of them. The UPS guy is either going to love us or.....

Tomorrow the crew comes through the kitchen wall to finish the hallway, and next week, probably the big wreck.  I leave on Thursday for up north, and tomorrow may be the last meal I prepare in the old kitchen.

The kitchen is 2/3 packed up and I intend to finish next Tuesday.

Color My World

Dad's room, in the sun.

Zoe the mudder at her craft.  Boy, was she good!

accent tiles for shower

bath and shower tile with accent

laundry floor and wood floor

 bedroom carpet (very light grey)

Laundry

Dad's office, 1st coat of red.

Bedroom color.

Cozy Porch.

Laundry color.

Mud Closet with color.

Christmas tree & gifts,

Yorkshire pudding cooked to perfection this year ;-)

D and Holly taking a much needed break.

The Painting Crew has been here all week.  As we are now in the "Middle" of life, we are no longer afraid of  Color.  It will be fun to see the color scheme materialize over the next few days.  The colors were chosen using our normal paint company;  our painter, however, insisted on his brand and assured us that the colors would be the same.

Christmas is upon us and surely the work will slow for a bit.  The addition will be mostly completed mid-January.  Then the Demolition of the kitchen and foyer, be careful what you wish for.  I'm bracing for the dust, knowing there will be a light at the end of the tunnel...somewhere.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

The Wall(s)

Knobs and pulls for the laundry.

It has been a couple weeks since I have posted.  Christmas activities and choosing items for the addition have taken up any semblance of spare time. Lots of pics to look at this time.  The knobs and pulls are just what I envisioned, they were so pretty, I couldn't believe the price.  They may be used in the kitchen, we'll see. 

Aren't they beautiful, a lot of bang for the buck!

Crew working on siding.  The back door will have different glass.

Drywall, in progress.

A room with walls.

Hallway, in the midst of activity.

Front view, after the snow, note the open door.  Holly escaped this day.  Stinker!

Bedroom, with walls.

How do you like our striped garage door?

My thumb, on Saturday evening.

Crew, putting in cement shower base for floor.

Porch, with the mudding.

Bedroom, with morning sun.

The house looks so different (bigger) with the walls up, the rooms no longer run together. This week we are finalizing on the laundry cabinets, sinks, etc.  Today, I'll go take one more look at the tile and be sure everything goes together.  The paint colors have all been chosen, next week I believe the painter begins ;-)

View of heat ducts from the basement.

How clean are your ducts?

Do you have to clean crawl spaces?

UFO, probably insulated duct work in the crawl space.

Mike got the good camera out and was able to get good shots of the ductwork.  The point and shoot wouldn't deal with the conditions.

Not all of you know about the thumb incident.  I am lucky that it is not broken.  There I was, dressed for a wedding, taking the dogs out.  Inadvertently, I stepped on Holly's foot, when she squealed, I tried to move, loosing my balance, falling.  In falling, I was trying not to fall on the dogs and caught my thumb on the door jamb, bending it toward my wrist, in a most unnatural way.  It still hurts when I use it (you do not realize how much you use your non-dominate thumb). The swelling has gone down quite a bit, but my whole hand is quite discolored and puffy. Motrin is helping the discomfort, it hasn't throbbed at all, which is a surprise. Nothing else was damaged (aside from my pride), guess those sandals will be worn by someone else in the near future.

Depending on the crew. I may not post again before Christmas, so,  Merry Christmas to all.  Hopefully, I'll see you all soon.

Tis the season

Beginning of the Thanksgiving activity.

Thanksgiving came quickly this year, but everything went off without a hitch. It even seemed, when it was all over that the pups were more exhausted than I was.  A great time was had by all.  Great food, Great Friends, Great Family.

Every pot, bowl and spice must be out.

Holly relaxing after Thanksgiving Dinner, she loves to entertain.

Table, set and ready, D checking everything.

Holly helping A & D with the Christmas lights.

Friday after Thanksgiving, I went shoping with my sister, A & D.  We had fun, They accomplished more than I did. Friday, we all celebrated 3 events, K & A's birthday and M & C's anniversary, great dinner, great company.

Saturday, K and I went downtown to browse the art district, then at noon off to Harry Potter with A, great fun.  Home for a bit, off to church, a simple dinner at home and then the ND vs. USC game.  A busy and fun day.

Insulating the garage.

Insulation in the office.

Monday, I got to play Bridge with "the Ladies" as my kids call them ;-)  It has been a year since I began learning, the knowledge seems to be sinking in.

Insulation crew at work.

Electricity, ready for a hook up

Shot of the technique

The Crew has been hard at work the last week and a half, they are trying to get everything enclosed before the snow flies.  They succeeded, and by Thursday the addition will hold the heat. Since Thanksgiving week we have gotten the heating and plumbing rough-in, exterior doors, insulation.  The final measurement for the laundry cabinets came today. 

Snow flurries and bitter wind also came today.  We are all hoping for chilly rather than freezing cold for a bit longer.  Soon the ceilings and attic insulation will go in.  

You may notice the office door doesn't match, don't worry a new insert is on its way along with the replacement for the one window that was damaged.