I ordered a kitchen Sink!

 I am so excited, I just ordered this sink for my kitchen!  I found a company that makes reproduction sinks.  Check it out here.






It's late and I'm tired but I just had to show someone what I ordered today!

House Building Frustrations.....or So We Wait!

 Plumbing for tub in Master Bathroom is done and....

 Tub installed!

 Dave even took a bath!

  

Then he went to install the shower stall, and guess what...

 the drain hole is right over a floor joist.  Huge design flaw!

The stall cannot be moved as the only way to move it is in the same direction as the joist.  The joist cannot be cut and reinforced because it is enclosed in a basement ceiling, so it is not accessible.  We did find a drain that drains at a 45 degree angle, and it has to be ordered online.  So we wait.

 I am still trying to decide what to do about the kitchen.  Here are some design plans and the top one is the most recent.  Only I found out a couple of weeks ago, the fridge does not work where we planned on putting it all of this time.  So, that's on hold until I can either look at fridges or make another plan.  We are probably going to have to put it next to the dishwasher, which makes me lose counter space and top cabinet space.

So we wait.

 We are trying to decide which of these doors we want.

 to go between the den and the living/dining room (or great banquet hall)

  

We can't finish the trim until the door comes in.

 Only we found out that the opening we have is 48 inches and standard is 60 inches.  So, we have to special order whatever we decide.  So we wait.

 We did get the crown molding up in the den.

 And lastly, I ordered some windows three weeks ago because they went bad.  You can tell because they are double pane windows and they are foggy in between the panes.  Which means gas is leaking out.  Well, the replacement windows arrived yesterday and they are the wrong kind.   I re-ordered them.  So we wait....

And people wonder why this house isn't done!  Really?

Cindy

Laundry Room TA DAH!!!

The laundry room is now finished!

 That little cubby above is where the Dixie dog will stay when we are gone, rather than a crate.

 Washer and drier area

 One door leads into the foyer, the other door leads into the bathroom (which is where I am standing)

 I cannot begin to tell you how many decisions go into a room like this.  I just can't.  I'm just glad it's finished.  This flooring, which looks like tile, is called Luxury Vinyl Tile.  (LVT)  It is very waterproof.  As a matter of fact, some of the places we visited to look at flooring have a piece of it in water, or a faucet running on it, just to prove how waterproof it is.  We are putting this in our bathroom and mudroom/office area as well.

 This is where the washer and dryer will go.  I can go purchase them I suppose, but since I'm not living upstairs yet, I think I'll wait.

And I thought I'd show you I have a ceiling fan in the laundry room.  I hang clothes quite often to dry so the fan will help circulate the air.  You can see in the first picture I have a rod going across the slop sink area to hang clothes on. 

So that's it...another room finished!

Bathroom and den next!

Cindy

Bedroom and Closet TAA DAH!!!

I had no idea it has been almost two months since I've shown you what is going on with the house.  Summers are just extremely busy.  

And the blogs suffer.  

Sorry.

So, the guy on the left is my dad.  The guy on the right is the owner of the drywall company we hired.  And he is also a childhood friend, who grew up in the same neighborhood, who was on the Little League Baseball Team that won city Championship the year my Dad was manager of the team!  So, Dad came over and they took about two or three hours and caught up with each others lives. 

On with the house....

After all the painting was finished, Dave messed around with the kitchen pantries, putting up shelving and such, while we looked for flooring. 

I will show you the kitchen pantries later, since I have flooring pictures downloaded, I'm getting on with the floor show!

I can't tell you how long we looked for flooring.  We would bring pieces home and just couldn't decide.  Then, one evening we were at Menards looking at something else, and we saw this old-fashioned looking oak floor.  It looked just like the floor in our 1940's house we used to live in, that we loved.  We bought a pack, came home and laid a bit of it out to see if we would like it.  We loved it.

Very heavy carrying all of these boxes in the house.

And guess who learned how to help lay wood flooring?  Yep.  Me. 
Oh...My....Gosh....
Up and down and
 up and down
and that piece doesn't work
and that piece is bowed
and this piece is split....
and on...and on. 
Then I got a splinter or two and those really hurt.  But without too much complaining...

we figured out a rhythm to laying this flooring so we could work together!  I would lay out a few rows,

then he would come in and nail them down.   You have to use a special nailer tool

 and it has to be hooked up to a (loud noisey air maker thingy ---- I can't remember the name of it and i say it all the time - uuggghhhh....the later 50 years.....and words....or the lack thereof...is frustrating....what is it called.....)

 

 When laying out the floor you have to be sure the ends don't match up with each other.  It would not look good if they did.  So I would have to measure what I needed, then go on a hunt for a piece that length.  You get several lengths in a box.

We got it laid in about a weeks time.

Then Dave set me up in the kitchen to paint the trim.  He would lay out what he needed every day and I would paint it in the evening.  It would dry over night.

We used the leftover pieces of the bedroom floor for the closet.

And TAAAAH DAAAAH!!!!!

He decided to put his clothes in the closet.  No man should have this many shirts.  Really?

I refuse to put my clothes in the closet until I get moved up there.  AND I am only bringing the clothes I wear.  The rest I am getting rid of. 

So...here is the bedroom.

We are not sleeping in it yet because the bathroom isn't finished.  I'm 57.  Dave is soon to be 58.  You get up at night.....to potty.  So, until I get a toilet, and heat, I am staying in my room in the basement.

But the closer we get to finishing this house, the more excited and anxious I am to get moved upstairs.

In the meantime, I have been working hard on kitchen plans.

Cindy

PS - The word is air compressor.  I googled it.  (sigh)

Drywall, Priming, and Painting done! (almost)

It's been quite some time since I've posted on this house blog.

Not because we haven't been working, we have!  VERY hard.  

All of this drywall has been put on the walls!

 

We hired it done.

It only took them a week!

Check these guys out....

 Sure beats climbing up a ladder, then down the ladder, then moving the ladder, then up the ladder, then down the ladder, then moving the ladder....

 They left these here overnight and I wanted to try them....but I was afraid I'd hurt myself!

 

After the drywall guys finished, we went on a trip to St. Thomas for a wedding which I will post about on my other blog.  And when we returned, we started priming, and painting.

One day my friend Teresa and my cousin Gloria decided to come over and help!  Gloria got so full of drywall dust from scooting on the floor she went outside to shake it off before coming downstairs for lunch!  I really appreciated them helping.  We had a system down that day and we really got a lot of priming done.

Gloria came back on Thursday and we painted all day.  (we missed Teresa that day)

 There were a few times I did some painting on my own, which is no fun once you've had help. 

Dave and I painted/primed all day Saturday and on Sunday, Vickie and Robert came over and helped.  

Earlier that day Dave went after donuts, and I had texted him to get Vickie a donut on a stick. (her fave)  Well, he never got the text because he doesn't carry his phone with him.  So when she came over, he gave her a stick and told her to stick a donut on it if she wants a donut on a stick!

 Poor Robert....he is just so fun to bug.  I posted this pic on face book!

So here are a few pics of what we've done, or I should say Dave has done, since the painting is almost finished. (I still have the laundry room to paint)

Below is my kitchen.

 This light is in the entrance of our bedroom.

 We have matching ceiling fans in the bedroom, den, and living room.   He also got the sconce lights up and the windows trimmed out in the bedroom and den.

 And ta dah!!!  A closet that I cannot wait to use.

 

 This is the bedroom window ledge.  You can see I like to grow a lot of plants, and I don't like to kill them through the winter months so I bring them inside.  He made me a wide window ledge in the bedroom to put the plants on for the east morning sun.

 It's hard to see these lights, but they are stained glass sconce lights in the den.  He had them facing up at first because he didn't like seeing the light bulbs, but three of us ladies voted to turn them down. He put in different light bulbs, and agreed with us!

 And this peeps,  is my kitchen so far.....today......

I've been meeting with the kitchen guy again trying to make some decisions.  It's very hard to figure out what to do because on paper cabinets look way different than they do once they are installed.  And once they are installed it is way too late to make changes.  Same with flooring.  They give you a 5x6 piece of wood and expect you to make a decision on a room by looking at that little piece of floor! 
Anyway, it's moving along quite nicely now and I'm very excited.

Cindy