Our House on Hickory View Lane

Bathroom: Nearly Complete

2009-12-04T08:12:00.005-05:00

Shame on me! I've neglected to update the blog at the most inexplicably inopportune time. The last post was quite the cliffhanger, and for no good reason (if there's a reason at all, it's certainly laziness), I just haven't followed up on it. I offer my profound apology.

Nevertheless, it is true that the bathroom is nearly complete! The tub was delivered a week later than we'd first expected, but it turned out beautifully. We were very happy with the job done; it looks great.

Before

After :-)

It was a pain to get the drain and water lines connected for the tub; I made several trips to varying stores to get all the parts and several arduous hours hunched underneath the house doing plumbing work for which I'm still not quite qualified. But it finally got done and, after redoing a few leaky connections a few days later, everything seems to be in working order. At the very least, I can happily say we've done the whole thing without having to hire a plumber, which certainly saved us a good deal of money.

I installed the sink and faucet with little problem, and the tile guys came back to install the mosaic backsplash. I think Jessica's choice of mirror and backsplash was bang on. We're both very pleased with the way it turned out.

Only several relatively minor things remain to be done: installing bars for towel, hand towel, and toilet paper; picking out and ordering a new floor register; and procuring stuff (framed black-and-white photographs, I'm told) to hang on the conspicuously blank walls.

It took a lot longer than even I thought it would, but this bathroom renovation is practically done, and we're rather proud. And in fact, this, in a way, brings the whole house renovation to a sort of conclusion. It definitely brings about a certain aura of completion to everything. I do realize, of course, that there will always be something to work on. The past couple of days, in fact, I've been building a dog house (more accurately, "a small barn") for Jessica's Great (in size only, mind you ;-)) Dane.

Delay

2009-11-02T09:26:00.002-05:00

The toilet has been installed,

but unfortunately that's all. Last Thursday, the tub guy said he ran into a problem when refinishing our tub. I didn't understand exactly what the problem was, but he said it just wasn't turning out satisfactorily and he wanted to start over. This was a bummer, as it brought everything to a sudden halt, but I urged him to take his time and get it right. It's supposed to be ready by the middle of this week. I hope things go better on the second try and that it turns out as well as we've been envisioning it. We can only hope and wait.

Floor: After

2009-10-24T17:48:00.004-04:00

It took one day to get the granite/marble laid, and the contractors came back the next day to set the base"board" and grout everything. We're pleased with how it turned out, and, if it wasn't before, it's very clear now that this bathroom will indeed be quite different from anything else we've done so far (even though the toilet will be the same and the sink will be very similar to the ones we put in the hall bath).

Now we can hardly wait to start installing all the actual bathroom stuff, most of which has been waiting in boxes in the bedroom for awhile. The toilet will go in soon, but I want to wait until the tub is in place before installing the sink; carrying that tub in there and getting it positioned right (without chipping or scratching the floor) will be quite a chore, and having the sink in the way would make it all the worse. The tub should be finished and returned to us by the end of next week, so if all goes smoothly I expect to have everything installed by next weekend. Also, we ordered a couple square feet of black and white marble mosaic to go right above the sink as a backsplash. Hopefully that will be in by next weekend as well.

I believe the end is in sight.

Floor: Before

2009-10-22T13:26:00.003-04:00

The focus now shifts from walls to the floor, about which nothing has heretofore been blogged. Months ago, we saw a picture of a bathroom with a black (or very nearly black) floor and thought it looked very cool. Since "very cool" is kind of what we had in mind for our bathroom, we set our minds on replicating the feel of the bathroom in that picture, especially regarding the floor.

We first thought we might use black marble (with some streaks of white running through it), which is certainly very cool, but turned out to be more expensive than we were comfortable with, even for a bathroom the size of a large closet. So we looked into some black granite tiles, which looked nearly as cool and cost considerably less, and decided to go with that. The floor will be black granite with a two-inch-wide strip of white marble around the room about six inches away from the wall. There will also be a six-inch-high granite "baseboard" all the way around.

I had been prepared to lay this floor myself just as I'd done in the hall bathroom last year, but I was told that granite is much more difficult to work with than ceramic or porcelain tile. For one thing, granite is much harder and my wet saw just wouldn't cut it. Also, the granite tiles would be butted against one another instead of spaced apart like most other tile, greatly magnifying any height variations between tiles resulting from imperfect setting.

So, we decided to have granite tile-setting experts do the job. In fact, they're in there toiling away as I type. We're jittery with anticipation, but the "before" pictures are all I can offer for now:

Paint and Lighting

2009-10-20T13:06:00.003-04:00

Jessica spent a large chunk of yesterday (and part of last night) painting. Thus, the walls are all but finished. When we were picking out wall paint a couple weeks ago, I was reminded again that the most difficult and stressful part of home improvement projects, by far, is agonizing over paint color. This bathroom renovation was no exception, but we're both (!) very happy with the color we ended up with, and that's greatly comforting.

There were also advancements in the realm of lighting. With the ceiling painted, Jessica installed the can light trims and I bought the appropriate bulbs on the way home from work, so they're now finished. We agreed that the can lights were the best choice. Good call, Jess! With the wall painted, the sconces could be installed. This was a job well-suited to my level of electrical expertise, and it got done without sparks, deaths, or other drama. We're both pleased with these as well. Three for three so far!

As promised, here are several thousand words worth of pictures:

"Blank Canvas"

2009-10-19T14:24:00.007-04:00

We're almost up to date now. Yesterday afternoon, I took a damp sponge to the ceiling and walls to clean off all dirt and dust in preparation for priming/painting. Last night, Jessica put a coat of primer on the ceiling, a coat of primer on the walls and windowsill/frame, then went back to the ceiling with some paint: Behr's ubiquitous "Polar Bear" (what I call "white") color. This left us with a blog post title.

Jessica is a skilled, motivated painter and is on fall break this week, so the walls will be taking on color very soon. This color, approximately:

Sherwin Williams' "Snowfall"

More pictures coming soon. Oh, the suspense!

Lighting

2009-10-19T11:12:00.004-04:00

Originally, the idea was to have wall sconces flanking the mirror and two matching (or at least complementing) pendant lights located roughly where the two old ceiling light fixtures were. It proved difficult to find pendants that fit our taste and our budget, so Jessica called an audible and decided that (recessed) "can" lights would be a better way to go.

It cost an arm and most of a leg to have electricians install five can lights in the kitchen last year; I tackled the bathroom installation myself. It certainly wasn't a trivial job (The tight attic space above the fixture close to the window was extremely restrictive and claustrophobia-inducing.), but it helped that I was able to use existing wiring, and I was done in an afternoon.

Obviously, they're not shown completely finished. Jessica recently installed the trims, and forthcoming pictures will reveal the finished product.

Follow-Up: Floor Register

2009-10-19T09:57:00.005-04:00

A month ago, I whined about the floor register being right in the middle of the floor. I pondered getting an HVAC contractor to reposition it, but I first explored the possibility of doing it myself and it turned out to be a relatively easy job. I wanted to move it directly to the right, towards the toilet, and--what good fortune!--the duct ran right under the line along which I'd be moving it, which also happened to be parallel with the floor joists. So I had only to remove the 90-degree elbow that lead straight up to the register, cut off about four feet of the duct, then reattach the elbow piece and (after giving it a 90-degree rotation so it'd line up with the hole I had cut between the wall and where the toilet will be) the piece leading to the register. After using some duct tape on an actual duct for the first time in my life, I was done:

It was one of the rare jobs where everything just seemed to work out.

Walls Finished

2009-10-19T08:43:00.004-04:00

(I'm way behind. A lot of blog-worthy stuff has happened since the last post, and I'm going to catch up with a series of incremental updates instead of mashing everything into one huge post.)

I finished mudding and sanding the walls last week. This involved finishing up some patching and prep work where the sink and mirror/cabinet were:

The tall rectangular "hole" is one that I had cut when I was intent on running the water lines for the sink up into the wall. Annoyingly, this turned out not to be feasible, so I was left with more drywall to do. I screwed two small lengths of 2x4 to the nearby stud to support the new piece of sheetrock. The larger piece of 2x4 above is for the pedestal sink top to be anchored to. (Click here for a sneak preview of the sink.)

I had been waiting on patching the hole where the medicine cabinet had been because I thought it would provide helpful access to the places where the wall sconces would be installed. I got around to installing the electrical boxes for the sconces (though with a lack of elegance about which I do not wish to go into detail...what matters is that they're properly positioned and adequately supported, right?), so I finally put in the last piece of drywall:

...And then let loose with the joint compound, nearly emptying the bucket.

After another few days, a little more mud, and lots of sanding, the walls and ceiling were finally ready for painting.

Hello, Walls

2009-09-26T10:02:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I set forth to turn the cobbled-together hunks of sheetrock into legitimate bathroom walls with a roll of fiberglass mesh tape, a 6-inch taping knife, a 10-inch taping knife, a corner knife (borrowed from Uncle Keith), a huge bucket of joint compound, and a head full of drywall "mudding" tips (also courtesy of Keith).

I was prepared for some seriously patience-taxing work, especially since I'd never done this particular task before (though the tedious nature of it definitely felt familiar). First I taped all the joints with the mesh tape. Next, I used the 6-inch knife to scoop mud out of the bucket and apply it liberally along the joints. Then I went back with the 10-inch knife to spread it out as wide and flat and smooth as I could. After about 24 hours of drying, I attacked it all with sandpaper, wiped the dust off with a damp sponge, and started again. The second time, I applied the joint compound in a much thinner and wider layer. After more drying and more sanding, I evaluated things. Surprisingly, most of it was looking much better than I'd thought it would.

There are certainly some spots here and there that will need at least another coat, but I would say that most of it needs only another light pass with some fine-grit sandpaper before it's done.

(Progress on the ceiling part, small as it is, is lagging behind; the joints were very wide and uneven, so it has taken a lot more work to get it close to acceptable...not to mention that working overhead is about five times more difficult than working at eye level.)

Tub

2009-09-26T09:24:00.004-04:00

Some friends of ours recently bought an old house in which the previous owner had left a bunch of old junk. This junk, though, included two old claw-foot bathtubs. They knew we might be interested, and we looked at them and took some measurements. One of them was just the right size for the master bathroom and looked to be in pretty good shape, although it clearly needs refinishing. A few weeks ago, we bought it from them for next to nothing (compared to what we had planned on spending on a new one, at least), and my dad helped us haul it home.

Jessica wanted a preview of what it'd be like once in place, so Dad and I lugged it into the bathroom and situated it roughly where it would ultimately be.

(Yes, there is one foot missing in the two above pictures. It fell off while making the journey from the front porch to the bathroom. Not to worry, though. It didn't break; it just came loose.)

I browsed the phone book and found a guy in town who's been doing bathtub repair and restoration for 35 years, and their cost to refinish a tub like ours was, I thought, pretty reasonable. He came and picked up the tub, and they're holding it for us until we're ready for it. We're supposed to call them about three weeks before we want it back, at which point they'll start working on it, and then deliver it when it's done. He sounded very positive about the quality of the tub, and said he thought it would look very nice when it was finished.

This was an exciting find, especially because of the money we're saving versus buying a new one. Even with the cost of refinishing added in, we'll have acquired this tub at well less than half of what we would have paid for a new one. We're very much looking forward to seeing what it looks like when they're done with it.

Master Bath Progress

2009-08-18T10:05:00.006-04:00

The pace of work on the master bathroom hasn't exactly been brisk (there have been several large obstacles and distractions), but enough man-hours have been put in since the last blog post to make the progress highly visible and--dare I say?--encouraging.

The shower is completely gone; nary a trace remains. We finished taking out the wall and had an electrician come in to take care of the wire that used to reside in it. He ran the wire through the remaining walls, including newly-added wire that will one day deliver power to a pair of mirror-flanking wall sconces, and he installed a new combination switch/receptacle box near where the sink will be.

Then there was the plumbing to deal with. After getting two different estimates on the plumbing work, I suddenly found myself highly motivated to do a lot of it myself. I was able to get the drain and the old water lines dropped down and capped off below the floor, and just recently started working on getting the water lines for the sink moved into the wall where we'll want them instead of coming up through the floor.

Saturday, I finished putting up sheetrock to patch the "holes" where the shower and wall used to be. There was so much variation in the edges of the existing wall and the new sheetrock that would abut it that it proved as difficult as I'd expected to get the joints even and flush. I was able to do what currently appears to be an acceptable job, but there's still some magic to be worked with my big bucket of joint compound, so I'm still quite nervous about how it'll turn out. We may well end up with a very topographically interesting wall.

I still need to patch the hole where the mirror/medicine cabinet used to be, but I want to wait until after the sconces are installed since it may prove beneficial to have that area exposed during or just prior to installation.

Another major headache can be seen in the fourth quadrant of the first picture. The floor register that used to be right next to the shower wall is now right smack in the middle of the room and needs to be moved. I think I'll be able to cut a new hole when we decide where it should go, but I don't know if I'm up to getting the ducting rerouted to the new location; seems like it could be tricky. I guess we'll see what an estimate from an HVAC contractor looks like, and if it's intolerably high, maybe I'll get another boost of confidence and motivation.

Exterior: After

2009-07-25T12:22:00.005-04:00

The "before" picture of the outside of the house is dreary, yet it's the one constantly displayed at the top of the right margin. So, we've decided to update it with a little comparison shot. And how timely! Jessica has just finished the front porch improvement project that she's wanted to do since the beginning of this whole adventure: replacing the wrought iron "posts" with handsome wooden ones. She had help (and borrowed some crucial tools) from her dad, and they did a fantastic job. Observe:

Mind you, these are not prefabricated posts picked up at Lowe's; they were painstakingly handcrafted ("from scratch"?) and customized, each for its own location. I thought it was a superfluous project and that the wrought iron was completely fine, but the new posts improve the look of the porch (and indeed the whole front of the house) enormously, and I'm very proud of my wife for executing it so well.

Here are some more exterior "after" pictures:

Also, I've updated the "Links" section in the right margin. There are now three separate links to picture pages: Before, During, and After. Enjoy!

More Emptiness

2009-07-02T10:01:00.003-04:00

That title really sounds dark and depressing, but at this point in the bathroom renovation, it's our goal. We've removed significantly more matter from the bathroom, including the vanity and the all of the sheetrock/plaster from the doomed shower wall.

This has opened up the space a lot and gives us a better idea of what it'll feel like with that wall gone (which is, quite nice). The next several weeks of work will undoubtedly be the most challenging. We've got to take out those studs while taking care of the pipes and the wiring (one switch and one receptacle) that used to reside in the wall. We've got to remove the remaining tile from the floor. Then we've got to patch up all the holes that will be left in the floor, wall, and ceiling. I think that will be the most difficult part--patching everything up and making it all look nice and seamless (and, in the case of the floor, preparing a flat, level, and sturdy surface for laying tile). This will be the phase in the project when we're most likely to say to ourselves, 'We've made a huge mistake.' I'm praying it doesn't come to that.

More Deconstruction

2009-06-08T10:03:00.004-04:00

I came home from work last Friday and was surprised to find even more work done in the bathroom. Jessica had removed nearly all the tile on the last wall of the shower (the trickiest part, given the presence of pipes and wire inside that wall), and had taken out the medicine cabinet/mirror/light thing above the sink, as well as some small, unidentified wall-mounted accessory under the mirror. Observe:

Jessica seems intent on actually making this renovation proceed smoothly (which is highly uncharacteristic of our house projects); she's obliterating all roadblocks that would hinder progress and, worryingly, is swiftly chipping away at my mental list of excuses to put off laying tile. Perhaps this is how projects are supposed to go when you're not doing 17 other things at the same time, like we were at this time last year...

Shower Demolition

2009-06-05T10:04:00.007-04:00

We have begun with removal of the 50-year-old pink shower tile. I got things started earlier this week with a hammer and cold chisel, but Jessica has made the most progress, while I've been at work, by swinging away (like she would, I imagine, a softball bat) with a small sledgehammer.

It's all too evident the shower/bunker was constructed in the mid 50's, when global nuclear war was expected to commence at any moment; the tile was set very solidly in a bed of concrete about eight meters thick (using metric makes the exaggeration sound even more intimidating, no?), underlying which was a sturdy metal mesh which gave the concrete further resilience. Jessica, undaunted, donned gloves, glasses, and a dust mask and brought down two "walls" worth of tile with her mighty hammer.

What you see remaining are the bits of concrete that remain clinging to the metal mesh, which we'll hopefully be able to rip out in big sections once all the tile's taken care of.

After the tile's gone, we'll be pondering the removal of the little section of wall. We presume it's there purely to form the third side of the shower and that taking it out won't cause any problems, but we'd really like to be 100% certain before we start yanking studs out. Does anyone know how we might tell for sure?

Home Improvement '09

2009-06-01T09:47:00.008-04:00

Our second summer here has just begun (at least according to the school calendar, which holds far more power over our lives than the sun and moon, orbits and equinoxes and whatnot), and the accompanying list of house tasks is already lengthening.

First, an update...
Since the last post, there has been some significant activity in the realm of landscaping, and not much more. Jessica planted some flowers in the small bed in front of the porch and put some hanging baskets above it. On Memorial Day, we drove to Sale Creek to adopt some baby plants from Keith and Kathy. They very generously gave us some young oak leaf hydrangeas and some dogwood saplings, all of which Jessica planted and is trying to nurse to health (after their traumatic transplantation). Thanks, K&K!

Most significantly, we spent a large chunk of last Saturday digging weeds out of the front/side flower bed and spreading mulch. It was tough work, but we had help from Jessica's brother Sam, and it makes the front of the house look much better.

A lot of work, to be sure, but it's small potatoes, I tell you...for it's during this summer that the feared and shameful master bathroom will undergo its long-awaited overhaul. Currently, it looks like this...

...ripe for renovation. Over the past year, we've gone round and round about what to do with this tiny bathroom, and I've been dreading it all along. We've come to this: instead of trying to enlarge and re-tile the shower, we're going to obliterate it and put in a tub. More specifically, we plan to bust out all the shower tile, take out the little interior shower wall, patch it all up, tile the floor, and put in a claw-foot tub. We'll also replace the vanity/sink (and get rid of that medicine cabinet/mirror), toilet, and all the light fixtures. And, of course, we'll paint.

It's a little on the radical side (is that possible?), and that's kinda the idea. I wanted this bathroom to be a little more edgy and modern-looking than the hall bathroom, and we'll be seeking out tile, paint, and fixtures that will make it happen. It's going to be crazy, what with that little wall being demolished and such, but the adventure should be right on par with much of the rest of what we've done to the house so far. If our experience from 2008 serves us well, I think it will turn out nicely. I started tile removal yesterday, and Jessica plans to continue that today.

You can now expect blog updates to appear at an increased rate. :-)

Still Alive

2009-02-08T16:45:00.007-05:00

It's been nearly four full months since the last update, and that's not entirely due to my being a lazy procrastinator: there simply hasn't been a whole lot going on, at least not compared to how things were in the summer. This one post will cover the notable projects since October.

Picking up where the last post left off, I should first mention the curtains. After much painful deliberation, Jessica chose the navy blue and white fabric you see in the pictures from the October post. Then, she and my mom worked several days over the course of a few weeks to sew not only the curtains for the huge front window, but also for the smaller window in the back of the living room as well. Quite some time after that, they used what was left of the fabric to sew what I believe is called a balloon curtain for the small window next to the front door.

In the first picture above, you'll also notice the blue pillows on the couch. Jessica picked out some silk for these throw pillows, which my mom made and which we picked up from Ooltewah just last night. Jessica is very pleased with the pillows; they look very nice. We also like our curtains a lot. Thanks for all the help, Mom!

The next project is one that still haunts my dreams. I think the story of the process, fraught with trouble and flirtations with disaster, will be more entertaining to the reader if I first put your mind at ease by telling you that it all turned out okay. And here are a couple pictures as proof:

Yes, a vent hood--and one that, at the insistence of the resident cook/baker, truly vents out to the roof instead of just filtering the air and returning it straight into the kitchen. I suppose it was a classic "All's well that ends well" kind of deal, but even before I started, I knew it was going to be a daunting task. As it turned out, each and every little step along the way had its own set of complications. There are some projects that go just as smoothly as depicted in the simplistically drawn, black-and-white fantasy world of the instruction booklet. This project, however, was steeped in the devilish details of reality which mocked and assaulted me for four days.

Now that I sit trying to actually recount all those details, though, there are only a few that I remember as more than just part of a blur of snags and setbacks. Most of these were due to the fact that all the surrounding stuff--stove, cabinet, crown molding, etc.--was already in place, so it was like doing surgery to cut away what was obstructing and work safely around what was nearby. I hacked away at that section of cabinet for hours with about ten different tools to get everything to fit, and that was just the beginning. It was certainly unsettling having to cut a big hole straight through our brand new roof, and the wiring--

I believe I'm going to end the whining right there and relay just one anecdote that nicely summarizes how things went: When the installation was nearing completion, it came time to hold the vent hood in place and mark the spots on the wall where mounting screws would need to go. I was able to lift the hood into place by myself without too much difficulty, but it would've been tough to hold it there long enough to have Jessica carefully mark the holes, so I found a large Rubbermaid container in the garage that was just the right height that it could be placed on top of the stove so that the vent hood could rest on it and would be in just the right place. So I lifted the hood into place and Jessica slid the container underneath.

So resting on top of our stove was a fleece blanket (which we had spread over it at the beginning of the project to protect the stove from debris), a large, empty plastic container, and a 40-pound vent hood, all carefully positioned to further the efforts of the laughably amateurish installation. While I was marking the four mounting holes, we began to smell something burning. It took us about 10 seconds to figure out what was going on: during the struggle to get the container/vent hood tower built, one of us had bumped one of the knobs controlling the stove eyes. We couldn't see that because the blanket was draped over the stove, but as soon as we realized what it was I held the hood up and jerked the container out of the gap like it was a Jenga block. We pulled the blanket off and turned off the stove, then I lowered the vent hood out of position and set it down on the table. The stove eye had melted a perfectly round hole through our blanket and the bottom of the Rubbermaid container, and the house stunk for quite awhile. It was quite the adrenaline rush.

Again, though, it eventually got done, with some help from Wayne and Sam (Jessica's dad and brother), without too much collateral damage, and it looks nice as long as you don't peer inside the mangled cabinet. (more commas, anyone?)

Jessica worked on the window latches and pulls in the kitchen. They had been painted over many times, so she took them all off and used paint stripper and brass cleaner to get them shiny again. It was a lot of work, but it's a great detail that makes things look more finished.

There aren't really any other major projects in need of reporting. The only other thing that may be worth a mention is our new car:

This picture was taken at Jessica's parents' house.

We sold Jessica's truck last summer, and had been driving my Jeep, which still runs well despite having almost 170,000 miles on it. Most of the time, the one vehicle was sufficient since Jessica and I ride downtown to work together, but there were plenty of times where a second vehicle was needed, and it would certainly become a problem in the summer when Jessica was off work and wouldn't have a car. We searched for awhile and, after some troublesome indecision between two good cars, finally decided upon the one pictured: a 2007 Honda Accord EX-L V6 sedan. We got a really great deal on it, and we absolutely love it. I think Jessica's favorite part is the comfy, inviting leather interior. I like the wheels, brakes, and throttle response the best. :-) I'm confident that Honda will serve us well for years.

I guess that's about it for now. Things on the horizon include redoing the porch columns, getting furniture for the back of the living room and kitchen, and starting on the master bathroom (ugh...). It may be awhile before any of that starts, but I promise not to wait too long to blog about it when it does. Thanks for reading; we're still alive!

Curtains

2008-10-14T21:23:00.003-04:00

There is a lot to say about how these curtains finally came to be, but pictures will have to do for now:

New Roof Complete

2008-09-14T16:35:00.002-04:00

The shingles were finished on Thursday, but the chimney still had a tarp over it, indicating they weren't done with the flashing. When we got home on Friday, the tarp was gone, and the (surprise!) copper flashing was done. We hadn't expected them to use copper, and they didn't ask, but after we got over the initial shock we decided we liked it. It looks very interesting and seems to suit the house and the shingles. Have a look:

Overall, we're very pleased with the new roof. The shingles don't quite have the color variation that Jessica had wanted (and the low slope of the roof makes it especially hard to see any variation), but it still looks great and we're glad we were able to get it done this soon.

New Roof in Progress

2008-09-10T08:59:00.008-04:00

First a little catch-up: we got a second estimate for getting new shingles put on the roof, and it ended up being quite a bit less expensive than the first one, so we decided to move forward on it. We picked out a 30-year architectural shingle in color called Moire Black.

I was surprised on Monday when I got a call in the afternoon from the owner of the roofing company telling me that his crew was at the house getting started. I was surprised because we hadn't yet set up a time for them to start, but we weren't going to complain about our new roof going on sooner than we'd expected. ;-)

There's a decent chance of rain forecast each day this week, but yesterday the weather cooperated, and we came home to find the roof well more than half re-shingled. Jessica insisted she climb up on the roof to have a look and take some pictures. First, here are some from the ground that kinda serve as "before" shots because none of the new shingles are visible from the front yet:

And now a view from on high:

They seem to be very close to finishing; there is less than half left to shingle. However, they're going to be installing ridge vents and doing the flashing around the chimney too, so I predict they'll finish tomorrow--if the rain stays away.

Jessica seemed happy with the way things looked, so I'm happy too. We're excited about it. I'll certainly post more pictures when it's all done!

The Stink: Resolution

2008-08-15T08:07:00.002-04:00

This post is way overdue, as we saw the end of the closet stink saga early last week. We bought a new light fixture for the closet. After it was installed, we turned on the light and waited a suspenseful 15 minutes or so....no smell. We were relieved but skeptical; something so elusive as a closet stink is unpredictable, we've learned. Alas, it's been a week and a half and the smell has not reemerged. It's nice to know the matter is taken care of, and that it was something as simple as a faulty light fixture and not, y'know...something dead between the walls.

No new roof yet--we're waiting to get a second estimate before we jump in--but we're really looking forward to getting it done. I think it will improve the look of the house by 100%.

Let's see, what else is there left to do? Curtains are probably the biggest task, and with school back in session there's no telling when Jessica will have time to work on those. We still have to paint the back door, and there are a few electrical outlets left to replace. Oh, and we'd like to get a vent hood for the stove. Other than those things, we're pretty much where we dreamed we'd be way back in March. Wow...what an experience this has been!

Roof updates to come next, hopefully by the end of the month. Stay tuned.

The Garage and The Stink

2008-08-03T08:44:00.004-04:00

First the stink...
For a month or two now, we have been aware of a strange smell that intermittently emanates from the closet of the master bedroom. We have pondered every conceivable hypothesis and tried to find the source/cause with no success. We eventually developed a strong suspicion that the smell was only present when the closet light was turned on, so we had our electrician look at it. He said the electrical connections were okay and didn't show any evidence of being too hot, but that the light fixture itself looked like it had been getting very hot; he pointed out a place on the fixture where its paint appeared to have bubbled up because of extreme heat. So we're going to replace the light fixture and see if that leaves the closet stink-free.

The garage had been a complete wreck since the week one of this whole thing, and yesterday we finally did something about it. We started at around 9:30 by taking almost everything out of the garage and lining it up in the driveway. Then, after giving the floor a good sweeping, we brought things back in one by one, placing them deliberately and strategically in drawers and on shelves, ensuring firstly that we would be able to call the garage "organized" when we were done, and secondly that we would never be able to find anything again. Things used to be scattered all over, so we thoroughly came to know the location of a particular object by using a crude latitude/longitude scheme, but now things are so neatly stowed away that you really have to know exactly where to look. (Putting things on shelves was particularly detrimental, as it suddenly introduced a third dimension into the tool-inhabitable space that we already spend so much time searching.) Alas, it's for the best, and it certainly feels good to have the clutter gone. We finished at around 4:30.

And, for the first time ever, we were able to park the Jeep in the garage instead of in the driveway:

Things have slowed down a lot (hence the plummeting frequency of blog posts), but I'm glad to say that's because there simply isn't that much left to do. I lack a wall and a half of quarter-round, and we still need to paint the back door. Those are probably the biggest things on the radar. I'm going to start putting together a collection of pictures (not sure what sort of format...maybe a PowerPoint presentation?) showcasing the work that's been done since March--essentially a bunch of before/after pictures. I'll make sure that becomes available here. The next time you hear from me, we may well have a new roof!

Shingles, etc.

2008-08-01T20:48:00.004-04:00

I am not disillusioned about the fact that my blog posts about my projects are never going to be as awesome as Nathan’s. So, let me wow you this way. Last Saturday we ate lunch at the PF Chang’s in Knoxville when toward the middle of my meal I am alerted to the fact that the god of football, Phil Fulmer, has chosen to take a seat right next to ME! As you may suspect if you know me well, I did indeed pick up the phone and call my father to share my warm tingly feeling with him. I so wanted to tell him that at the Orange and White game in Chattanooga, when I was eight, I had my picture taken with him and he told me that he had a daughter my age. However, my husband implored me not to “bother” him. I know, you’re thinking “How could he possibly be bothered by you, Jessica?” My thoughts, exactly.

The end of the summer is already here. I wanted to get a few projects done before I started teaching this year. Nathan and I have been finishing up the quarter round. We finished the office last week, and tonight, he’s finishing our bedroom. My most recent project was working on door knobs. After a closer look, I decided that I would try to polish the door knobs before we went ahead and replaced them. I am very glad I did. They have turned out beautifully. Some look better than others because the tarnish was extreme in places. I am much happier with these knobs than I would be with new ones because they look so interesting and because they were original to the house. They don’t make knobs that look like these 60-year-old ones anymore.

Today Nathan and I came home early to meet a roofer. He measured our roof and talked to us about our options for shingles. Nathan and I decided that it would be a wise move to proceed with the roof now (we were considering replacing my truck, which we sold Wednesday). I think were going to get another estimate from a roofer that my mom knows before we hire someone. Until then, I am trying to pick the shingles I want. I know I want architectural shingles. These are the three colors I have narrowed it down to:

"Moire Black"

"Graphite"

"Slate Stone"

I want the attractiveness of the shingles to show, and it seems that the darker the roof, the less you can appreciate the shingles.

Kitchen Floor Complete

2008-07-17T21:52:00.004-04:00

After far too long, the kitchen floor is finally done. Jessica swept the floor first, then I wiped it down with a sponge and water. After the slate was completely dry, I applied a simple penetrating grout/tile sealer. Then I mowed the front yard. The slate had completely absorbed the sealer after I finished mowing, so I went ahead and applied the final product, a "stone enhancer/sealer". This product brings out the colors in the stone, makes it darker, and gives it a slight glossy look (at least until it gets dirty). Have a look-see:

We're going to avoid walking on it tomorrow; hopefully it'll be dry and pedestrian-friendly by Saturday. It does feel nice to have this done, but now I must move on to other tasks which, I'm afraid, will seem very foreign to me, as I've done almost nothing but lay tile/slate since March.

Slate-Grouting Progress

2008-07-11T08:33:00.005-04:00

I've slowly been chipping away at the time-consuming project that is grouting the slate in the kitchen. It's quite an ordeal, but I've finally got the process memorized and streamlined. Here's what I've been doing:

1. Use a sponge and a bucket of water to clean off the slate to be grouted.
2. Empty the bucket of its now-dirty water, refill it, and repeat step 1.
3. Repeat step 2.
4. Wait 15 minutes or so for the slate to dry.
5. Apply a coat of sealer.
6. Wait 15 minutes or so for slate to absorb the sealer.
7. Apply another coat of sealer.
8. Wait 30 minutes or so for slate to absorb the sealer.
9. Mix grout.
10. Use a grout float to scoop a tiny bit of grout out of the bucket.
11. Using the grout float, squish the grout into the grout joints a few inches at a time.
12. After grouting about 4 slates' worth of grout joints, stop to clean grout off of slate surface.
13. Fill a 5-gallon bucket with water, use a sponge to clean off excess grout, rinsing the sponge every minute or so.
14. Empty the bucket of its now-dirty water, rinse the sponge out, and refill the bucket.
15. Sponge off slate two or three more times to ensure removal of grout "haze".
16. Repeat steps 10-15 until knee- and back-ache become debilitating.

It's painstaking, but it's working well, and I'm probably about 75% done. I've done a little illustration to show some of what I've grouted so far. The green lines in the picture represent grout lines that are done (the lines hidden on the left continue all the way to the door and into that corner):

(And of course there's the part under the stove and dishwasher that I did a few weeks ago.)

After it's all grouted, I'll wipe it down a couple more times, apply one more coat of sealer, then apply a final coat of "Stone Enhancer/Sealer". We'll see how that holds up; I may end up sealing it again a few weeks after that.

Not a whole lot more has been going on lately. After the floor is done, I'll move onto projects like installing quarter-round, cleaning/organizing the garage, and installing thresholds for the two kitchen doorways.

Refrigerator

2008-07-03T23:01:00.002-04:00

We finally had the refrigerator delivered today. It was put in place and hooked up with little fuss. I wasn't there when Jessica picked it out, so it was the first time I'd seen it in person. It's gargantuan! I love it.

When we were living at the duplex, I was always whining about the amount of space in the fridge. I foresee no such problem with this one. The refrigerator is so imposing, in fact, that it changes the feel of the kitchen dramatically. Jessica says that once we get a table and chairs in the kitchen, the fridge won't seem so strangely oversized. Either way, it won't bother me; I look forward to going spelunking for milk each morning. ;-)

Working on Sunday

2008-06-29T21:57:00.005-04:00

A travesty, I know, but I think it was all God-pleasing work, and we got quite a bit accomplished.

After church, I made a quick trip to Lowe's for more cabinet handles. I bought all they had (26), and we're still about 5 short. I then started cleaning thinset from the grout lines between slate tiles. It was rather tedious; there was a lot to clean out because I had been a little sloppy when laying the slate. I also used a cold chisel to alleviate any extreme instances of unevenness between adjacent tiles. Behold, the tools of the trade:

I covered the whole floor (minus what I'd already grouted) and vacuumed thoroughly afterward. Now I'm prepared to dive into some serious grouting next week.

While I was doing this, Jessica was painting quarter-round and repainting (for a total of four coats of Behr Polar Bear 1875 semi-gloss) cabinet doors:

It's a dangerous thing not knowing what you want to do next; it's at these times that you receive assignments. My assignment was to install the overhead bathroom light fixture that we bought on Friday (Our regular lighting store was having a huge sale, and we got a great light for $7.00!). I'd never installed a light fixture before, so this one took me about two hours:

Finally, not more than 30 minutes ago, Jessica installed all the cabinet handles we had. It looks really nice, and does a lot to give the kitchen a finished look.

P.S. I tried shooting the inside of the front door again. This is the best I came up with, but I think it's a little better than the first ones I took:

Quarter-round

2008-06-29T09:43:00.004-04:00

But first...

Last week, Jessica decided to stain the inside of the front door. We had been planning on painting it because there was some damage on the inside from when the holes for the door hardware were cut. I had repaired the damage with some wood putty, but we were afraid it would be clearly visible through stain. But Jessica tested out a little stain on the damaged part and it looked okay, so she went ahead and stained the whole thing. It turned out very nicely, and the hardened wood putty took the stain very well, so you can hardly even tell it's there at all. To put it mildly, Jessica was extremely pleased with the way it turned out. (My pictures, though, didn't turn out so well; I definitely did something wrong when I took them.)

Now, I can't imagine having it painted; it looks fantastic. More kudos to Jessica! (Maybe I'll try to take a better picture and post it later.)

Friday evening, we went to Lowe's and bought about 170 feet of quarter-round, then we brought it home and painted it all. It wasn't fun.

Saturday, Mom-Mom and Papa came down at around 9:00, and work began very soon. Jessica decided that she and Papa could put in quarter-round while I worked on the kitchen floor. She wants the refrigerator to be put in as soon as possible, so we decided I should just grout the part of the floor on which it will reside. Here's that part of the floor after a pre-grout sealing:

Grouting went well, and after I apply a final coat (or two) of sealant to it in a couple of days, we'll be able to have our refrigerator delivered.

Jessica, Papa, and Mom-Mom worked hard on putting in quarter-round. They finished installation in the living room, the hallway, and the brown room.

Today, Jessica intends to paint over the filled nail-holes. I, of course, shall be continuing work on the kitchen floor. I'll likely be cleaning out grout lines in preparation for much more grouting this coming week.

Dishwasher and Slate Installed

2008-06-24T21:09:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, Wayne and I installed the dishwasher.

It was a long, painstaking, and frustrating task that I'm very glad to have done. It's still not perfect, but it's in there and it looks good. We washed our first load of dishes last night; it ran calmly and quietly, and Jessica said that when she took them out this morning "they all looked perfect," so I'm leaving it alone.

Tonight, I finished laying the slate in the kitchen. It was a momentous and liberating event. The task was very tedious, and only slightly less difficult than laying the shower tile; it's nice to have it done, and I reckon I'm satisfied with how it looks.

The feeling of freedom will be short-lived, though, for grouting awaits me. Grouting slate is a lot more difficult than grouting tile because you have to be much more careful about the grout getting on the surface of the slate; it has a tendency to discolor the slate and will cause major problems if any grout is accidentally allowed to dry on the slate. All this is because the slate is very porous compared to tile. Unless it goes much more smoothly than I expect, grouting will probably take me two weeks or so. Then, finally, I'll have to apply two or three coats of stone enhancer/sealer (which, by the way, will make the slate look darker and a little "shinier" than it does now). It will be so nice to have it completely done, but I know that's still many hours of work away.

Jessica accomplished a lot today, too. Most notably, she got all the interior doors hung, which was not nearly as simple as it should have been. I was dreading tackling that task, but she surprised me by doing it all herself. Thanks, Jess!

We're Still Alive

2008-06-22T19:46:00.006-04:00

Summer brings an end to the blogging drought. Let's get right to it...

Last weekend, Jessica and I went to Nashville for our first anniversary. We enjoyed just exploring the city and finding fun things to do. It was very nice to get away from here for a few days. House work isn't moving at the break-neck pace it was for the first few months, but things are getting done.

Blinds have been hung in the bathroom, our bedroom, and the "Cookie Crumb" room:

Jessica stained the outside of the front door, and it looks very nice:

Jessica worked hard scraping, priming, and painting the front porch "ceiling", and now it's almost where she wants it. She wants to put up some molding. (In the next picture you'll also notice shutters, which Wayne and Jessica hung on the front and garage side of the house):

Yesterday, Wayne came over and installed the light fixture that Jessica picked out for our bedroom (the pictures didn't turn out that good--the light looks much better in person):

Until recently, I had really been slacking off on laying slate, but I've gotten quite a bit done this weekend. I have about 12 more pieces to set...then the grouting begins.

Today, Jessica picked up her dog from Wayne and Tammie's house and brought it over to hang out in the back yard. I suppose Heidi will be moving here in the not-too-distant future.

I took some pictures of the flowers that are growing in the back yard near the stone wall. I think Jessica said they are lilies. I think the red/orange ones are really neat:

It always feels like we're close to finishing things up, but more things are constantly popping up. I guess that's how things will be for awhile. ...though that doesn't bother me, because once I finish the kitchen floor, doing anything else will feel like a vacation. ;-) I'll try to make my blog posts more frequent. Maybe Jessica will post a thing or two sometime.

Visual Update

2008-06-07T10:02:00.002-04:00

I've finally uploaded some more pictures. I always thought that once we moved in I'd have more time to blog, but it's had the opposite effect; since we're on-site, any time blogging could be spent laying slate or painting, so I usually can't talk myself into it. Anyhow, these pictures are long overdue, and I'm sorry for the inconsistency as of late. As always, I'll post some favorites here and the rest on the 'House Pictures' page.

Status

2008-06-03T08:32:00.002-04:00

An update is well overdue, and though I don't have any new pictures up yet, I aim to offer simple information of the progress we've made.

We finished getting everything moved out of the duplex and into the house on Saturday evening. Life is as crazy as I'd expected. Jessica has been working very hard to get things unpacked and put where they belong, and thanks to her we're already much closer to relatively clutter-free living. Last Thursday and Friday, Papa helped us get the bathroom finished--well, not finished, but functional. We installed our sink and toilet. The toilet tank was leaking and we were very worried, but Lowe's replaced it for us and now it's working flawlessly. Yesterday morning I discovered that the drain pipes for the sink were leaking, but I worked on it yesterday afternoon and I think it's fine now.

For about two weeks now I've been trying to get the drains for the kitchen sink working, but I keep running into little problems, and leaks persist, so I think I'm just going to let the plumber deal with it when he returns tomorrow to finish up the tasks they didn't get to last week. We had our new water heater hooked up and had all the old galvanized supply pipes replaced with a product called Wirsbo Aquapex. It's some sort of polymer that has advantages over copper. While installing this, the plumbers discovered some problems with the big pipe coming to the house through the front yard, so I gave them the go-ahead to replace that as well. It'll be a hefty bill, but it's well worth it to have reliable plumbing, satisfactory water pressure, and clean water, not to mention the value added to the house.

We're slowly working making life normal--installing blinds, fixing sinks, installing kitchen flooring, etc. We're enjoying the house--the parts that are done, anyway. The bathroom is getting very close to being complete, and we love it. Papa did such a wonderful job on the baseboards, wainscoting, mirror frame, and chair rail. We're really pleased with the way everything turned out. I promise pictures soon.

Hardwood and Slate Floors

2008-05-27T08:42:00.003-04:00

It's quite ironic: when lots of things are happening and we're very busy, I have the least amount of time to update the blog, but those are exactly the times when blog updates would be the most interesting. Anyway, last weekend was packed with goings-on.

Friday, our slate/thinset/grout was delivered to us. I stayed until about 11:30 that night putting backerboard down.

Saturday, the floor guys put the final coat of polyurethane on the hardwood floors. They look fantastic, especially compared with their original condition; we're very happy with the way they turned out.

Dad helped out a lot on Saturday putting backerboard down while I set slate. Laying the slate is particularly tough work. The pieces are 16" square and around 1/2 inch thick, so they're just bulky and heavy enough to be cumbersome. It's harder than laying tile also because of the severe irregularity of the slate; some pieces are not exactly square, some are quite smaller than the rest, and some are quite thinner. It's like you have to be deliberately and carefully imprecise in order to make it all look square and the joints look consistent--it's very odd.

Sunday I worked on slate from after lunch until dark. Jessica tiptoed across the new floors to the hall bathroom where she cleaned grout off the edges of tiles. Monday morning, we bought a new water heater (to be installed this week). Then Jessica headed to the duplex to start packing stuff while I, of course, continued laying slate.

It was a crazy weekend, and the next one will be even more so. We committed to moving out by the end of the month, and now we're working hard to deliver on that. We'll be moving into a renovation-in-progress house, and whether we have a working bathroom sink and a refrigerator will depend on how much work we can get done over these next few days. We don't want to bring the fridge in until the slate is done, and we don't want to install the sink and toilet until the baseboards in the bathroom are done. Papa is coming down Thursday to help Jessica with that and other things; I'll be slinging slate like a madman; and we'll both be sorting through our stuff at the duplex (How in the world have we accumulated so much stuff already??) to see what needs to be kept/packed, given away, and thrown out.

We'll be praying for peace, sanity, and energy.

Wednesday

2008-05-21T21:27:00.003-04:00

Today, big things happened. Firstly, it was Jessica's last real (with students) day of school. Huzzah! I took the day off work to meet the contractors for countertop installation and hardwood floor refinishing. Both crews were there before 9 and got to work immediately. The counters and the undermount sink were installed within about 5 hours with little fuss. They look stunning. Jessica and I are very pleased with our choice of granite, and we love our big new sink.

The floor guys spent awhile taking care of nails and other obstructions, then started sanding. The sander was good about sucking up the dust, and it didn't stir up nearly as much I thought it would. They coarse-sanded the whole floor, and fine-sanded everything but the living room. The floors looked fantastic. The guy commented on the high quality of the wood, and they definitely look it.

I picked out a few stain colors that I wanted them to put on the floor for Jessica to choose from when she got out of school. In the living room, they put down about a square foot each of six stains, then put a coat of polyurethane over it. We decided on a light, orangeish-reddish stain called Colonial Maple (the far right in the picture below). I assume that tomorrow they'll finish the sanding and get stain and polyurethane on at least most of the floor. They'll put a total of 3 coats of polyurethane, so I assume the job will take at least 3 more days.

I called our tile guy, who informed me that he arranged for our slate to be shipped from a different distributor, and that it should be in on Friday. This was great news, as I'll now be able to lay slate this weekend instead of just waiting around for the hardwood floors to be done. If I can pick up some backerboard tomorrow and get a jump on that part, I'll be well on my way to (boldly) predicting that the kitchen floor will be at least set (if not grouted and sealed) by the end of Labor Day. It'll certainly be a very busy ten days or so, but things are looking good!

The "before" floor:

During granite installation:

The former floor:

After granite installation:

The stain array:

Pictures!

2008-05-20T08:00:00.003-04:00

I've finally uploaded the last few days worth of pictures. They can all be viewed via the House Pictures link, but I'll post a few below.

Yesterday, Mom-Mom and Papa came down to work again. After work, I headed to the house and Papa and I put the wainscoting up on the wall using some sort of Loctite adhesive. After that was done and they left for home, I mixed up some grout and tackled the bathroom floor. It took me about three hours, but I'm glad it's done. It looks okay; I think I left too much grout in the joints, as they appear pretty wide, but the "scalloped" edges on our tiles are still mostly visible, so I guess it's okay. Next, I'm supposed to seal the grout, but I have to wait three days for the grout to completely dry out so that no moisture gets trapped. But, after they do the hardwood floors, I won't be able to walk to the floor to the bathroom until a week from now. And I don't want to put in the toilet and sink until I've sealed the grout. So just in the bathroom there's quite a bit of work that will have to be done in the last few days. It will be interesting to see how things go from here. Enjoy the pictures!

Can you tell I'm proud of my tile? :-)

The mirror frame Papa made (it will be painted white):

A Weekend in the Bathroom

2008-05-19T14:53:00.003-04:00

...not because I was ill, but because I worked almost exclusively in the bathroom all weekend. Saturday morning we got some stuff at the store, including a new blade for my wet saw, then headed over to the house. Papa was there after having dropped Mom-Mom off at my parents house in Ooltewah (she wasn't feeling up to working). He worked on constructing a frame for our bathroom mirror. (I had bought a custom-cut mirror Friday afternoon, only to find out Saturday that I had given them the wrong dimensions. Luckily the mirror is a little too large, so we'll simply need to get it cut again.) I swapped in the new diamond blade and started cutting tile for the bathroom closet. There were so many intricate cuts to make. It was very slow, tedious work, and by the time I was done, it was time to leave for a graduation partyish thing in Ooltewah. My brother Evan graduated from high school Saturday evening.

Sunday, Papa came back down early to work, and we joined him. He finished the mirror frame (which now lacks only paint and a correctly-sized mirror), I set the tile in the closet, then we both got to work measuring and cutting the wainscoting for the lower half of the bathroom wall. Jessica worked on painting woodwork until after lunch, then headed off to do school work (only a week of school left!).

We're shooting for moving in by the end of the month, and it looks like things will be getting done just in the nick of time; we have almost no room for error. We plan on having the countertops installed and the hardwood-floor-refinishing begin on Wednesday. Next Tuesday, the plumbers will do their next round of work. In the meantime, we'll be working on the kitchen floor, which we won't be able to lay slate on until we pick it up on that same Tuesday, which gives us five days to lay the slate, grout, wait for the grout to cure, seal the slate/grout, and wait for the sealer to cure. I have a feeling we'll be staying out of the kitchen for the first few days of June, as I don't think the floor will be quite ready to be walked on and have refrigerators and tables scooted around on it by 6/01.

Things have gone well, though, and we are in great shape compared to what we could have been--if we hadn't had all this help from our families, Papa and Mom-Mom in particular. We're so proud of what's gotten accomplished, and we're looking forward to seeing everything come together in the next few weeks. Keep checking in; I promise updated pictures soon! :-)

More Plumbing, Bathroom Tile, and Hardwood Floors

2008-05-16T10:13:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I took the day off to work on tiling the bathroom floor and to meet with contractors about some more plumbing and the hardwood floors. I want to have all our supply lines replaced; they're 50-year-old galvanized pipes, and they need to come out in order to keep our water in a nice, not-brown-and-gross condition and to make sure the water pressure is satisfactory. I also wanted to make sure we could easily get the washing machine drain pipe properly routed to the sewer line. These things will not be prohibitively expensive, and we'll probably have them done the week after next. The plumber suggested that we also replace the line coming from the street to the house (dig a trench, cut out the old pipe, put in the new one, fill the trench, sow grass seed), and I'd like to have that done too, but that alone will cost nearly $1,000, so I'm not sure we'll jump on it immediately. A higher priority than that pipe is getting our hot water heater replaced; the existing one is 15-20 years old and is probably helping to foul up our water due to rust/corrosion/deposits inside.

Mom-Mom and Papa came down, and Papa worked on the big kitchen window. Dad took half a day off to come help me tile. Thanks to his help, the bathroom floor is all tiled except for the closet. I'll have to buy a fresh blade for my wet saw before I can make the cuts that the closet tile will require; that porcelain is some seriously tough stuff! I hope to have everything in the bathroom grouted and sealed by the end of this weekend. And of course, I forgot to bring the camera to the house yesterday, so you'll have to wait a couple of days for pictures of the tile. :-(

The estimate I got for refinishing the hardwood floors was right around what we expected. We'll probably have them start that next week, but it's possible we'll decide to stay another half-month in the duplex so that things aren't so rushed. We wanted to finish the bathroom and finish all the painting before the floors were done, but it looks like that will take a little longer than we had hoped.

Shower Grouting and Wall Painting

2008-05-11T09:03:00.003-04:00

Except for a few tiles that I'll set after tiling the floor, I finished tiling the tub surround last week. Friday evening I began grouting. Since the space between the tiles is very small (~1/16th inch), I had to use "unsanded" grout, which is a little more difficult to use and sets up rather quickly, meaning you have to work with very small amounts at a time or work very fast.

I had intended to buy a mixing paddle to use with the drill, but I forgot, so I tried to mix the grout by hand. This turned out to be amazingly difficult, and by the time I was done mixing, I was worn out and the grout had begun to set. So I rushed to the shower and started flinging grout like a madman. I was scooping it out and smearing it on the wall with the grout float, working in huge sections and making ridiculous movements to get the grout where it should be and keep it away from where it shouldn't. I felt like a crazed artist creating an abstract masterpiece.

I got about 2.5 walls done (at that point, the grout in the bucket simply became too solid to use), then Jessica and I attacked it with sponges, wiping off the excess and creating presentable grout lines. When we stopped, the bathroom looked like a hurricane had hit it:

Saturday morning, we picked up paint for the master bedroom and got to work. I began where I left off with the grouting. I mixed the grout a little thinner this time, so it was easier to mix and the process went much more smoothly. Jessica finished painting the ceiling in the bathroom, then started on the walls. (Needless to say, we did not go with the loud reddish color we first considered. We decided on "Lisbon Blue".) We made surprisingly short work of both tasks.

Jessica took pictures of the flowers she planted around the mailbox Friday afternoon. It looks fantastic, and we're very thankful that Papa repaired the brick flowerbed to make this possible:

With painting almost done (Jessica thinks she'll probably do a second coat on the walls.) and grouting done (except for sealing it), I started on the floor. Dad came over for a few hours and we put some backer board down:

While we were doing this, Jessica painted the master bedroom walls. The color she went with reminds me of sand. I like it, but Jess wishes it were a tad darker.

We miss having everyone around (compared to last weekend, the place was a ghost town), but I feel like we still got a lot done. I hope to finish putting backer board down today and possibly lay a few floor tiles. We're getting closer!

A Big Weekend

2008-05-05T08:31:00.004-04:00

The weekend was productive, enjoyable, and memorable. Saturday morning we arrived to find Papa and Ron working on reinstalling the kitchen cabinets and putting molding around the tops of them:

They did a fantastic job, and Jessica and I are very pleased with how it looks. It was nice to see the cabinets go back up; it felt like a big step forward.

I continued working on the shower tile:

Dad scraped, primed, and painted the exterior of both garage doors (note the difference in the painted one on the left and the unpainted one on the right):

Jessica, Mom-Mom, Debbie, and Mom painted:

Aunt Debbie and Mom-Mom prepared a wonderful lunch of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches:

Saturday evening, Ron installed the bathroom light fixture we bought Thursday:

(Note the test patch of "Fiery Red" paint that Jessica was considering for the bathroom walls. Yikes!)

Sunday was just as big a day. Jessica and I went shopping for cabinet hinges and found some very similar to the old ones but in a "brushed nickel" type finish. Papa and Jessica worked on putting doors on the upper cabinets (we want to wait on countertop and slate installation before putting the doors on the lower ones):

Ron and Papa had investigated the condition of the chimney Saturday evening, and found it to be lacking flashing (among other problems), which explains its persistent leaking. Ron performed some repair work that should stop the leaks at least until we save enough money to replace the roof, which is clearly ready for retirement.

Of course, two constants remained: tiling the shower and painting:

Dad came over and mowed the yard, then worked with Papa and Ron to replace two clogged drain pipes that run underneath gutter downspouts. They also investigated the drain pipe for the washing machine. It had originally been run underground to about 30 feet away from the house, where it emptied into a sort of makeshift gravel aquifer covered by rotted plywood about a foot below ground. It had gotten clogged there, so the pipe had been intentionally broken where it came out of the wall, so the waste water would just empty right at the corner of the house. They suggested I have the drain pipe rerouted to run right to the sewer line. I'm going to try to have a plumber look at that this week.

Mom generously brought over white chili and chips for dinner. It was fantastic again.

This weekend was undoubtedly the most productive yet. I'm certainly starting to sound like a broken record: we feel so blessed and loved to have everyone help out so much. We would be in awfully bad shape were it not for the selfless hard work of our families. We could not possibly express adequate gratitude for what you've all done for us. Thank you so much!

Tile, Paint, & Crown Moulding

2008-05-02T22:15:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we went to the tile place and picked up our bathroom tile. We also got our slate ordered for the kitchen (finally). The slate is a lot thicker than tile would have been, and since we're already putting it on top of two layers of stuff plus backerboard, we'll pretty much be using a ladder to get from the living room into the kitchen. I talked quite a bit with the owner of the tile place, and it turns out that laying slate is a lot more complex than laying tile, so I'm getting a little nervous.

Mom-Mom and Papa have been down here again this week. Mom-Mom has been painting woodwork, etc.; Papa got the island back in place in the kitchen, and he's been working on putting up crown moulding in the kitchen, among other things, of course.

I don't know where else to put this, so I'll just throw it in here: Today we bought lights and towel racks for the bathroom.

Yesterday we were pleseantly surprised to learn that Aunt Debbie (daughter of Mom-Mom and Papa) and Uncle Ron were planning on coming down (from Gallatin, TN) the next evening and helping out Saturday. They arrived tonight at around 9:00, and they're camping out on an air mattress in the green room. It's nice to have them here to join the cause.

We hope to accomplish a lot this weekend. With all this help, how can we not? :-) I'll be sure to post pictures of all these shinanigans before Monday.

(I should mention that Sunday, Dad brought his pressure washer over and sprayed most of the exterior of the house...while, ironically, it was pouring rain. The house looks better, especially the windows, and now the garage doors can be painted. Thanks, Dad!)

Surprises

2008-04-29T12:41:00.004-04:00

I love gardening. At home, I always looked forward to buying flowers in the Spring and planting them with my Mom (she did it without me this year :-( ). A while back Nathan surprised me with this book about creating small gardens. I’ve looked through it a ton and dreamed about what I wanted to do when we got our own place. Unfortunately, with the timing of this purchase and the vast amounts of work (and money) spent indoors, I realized early on that my garden would have to wait until next year.

Then Mommom started bringing me these beautiful hostas a few weeks ago. I was so thrilled because I now had those in a two flower beds and loved them. Well, last night, mom came over. We painted for a while and then she needed to go to the grocery store. Before she left, we were all standing around outside talk and I decided to dig up weeds in my new (thanks to Papa) flower bed around the mail box. A few minutes later, mom noticed something off in the side yard.

They were peonies! Yes! I love peonies, too. Then we found another peony plant. As if that weren’t exciting enough, after looking around more, we found purple irises starting to come up. When mom and dad left, I started weeding around one peony and put some of Papa’s wood shavings around it to keep the weeds down. I was a happy girl. It’s so fun to experience these little blessings from God.

Another Saturday

2008-04-27T08:58:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, my uncle Keith (son of Papa and Mom-Mom) and cousin Allen (son of Keith) came over. Keith has some experience patching holes, cracks, and joints in drywall, so he went to work finishing off the kitchen soffit-hole repair. He did a fantastic job, and by mid-afternoon, the kitchen was ready for painting. Jessica and Tammie tackled that job, and the first coat was finished rapidly.

You'll notice in the pictures that the kitchen floor is radically different. Last week, Papa worked on taking up a couple layers of the floor in preparation for tiling. He took up the top layer of linoleum and a layer of thin plywood. There are two more layers left, and Papa suspects that the bottom layer, the one underneath the beautiful linoleum you see pictured, may contain asbestos, so we're leaving both of these alone; I'll put backerboard and tile over it all.

We're going to try to get kitchen tile ordered this week...and by "tile" I likely mean "slate tile". Jessica has really latched onto the idea of having big slate tiles on the kitchen floor. If we can find the look we want at a price we can tolerate, we'll order it next week and hopefully start laying it in a couple more.

Though I forgot to take pictures of it, Dad put primer on the walls and ceiling of the master bathroom; we're not remodeling it for quite awhile, but we hope to get it looking decent by the time the home is re-appraised. I'm about 70% done tiling the shower in the hall bathroom, and I really hope to be done by this time next week. Thanks yet again to the help of family, things are shaping up nicely, and I expect things will be finished on time.

Jessica's Addition

2008-04-22T19:23:00.002-04:00

I do have a few things to add. I feel that a wise career choice would be to stop teaching and become a painter. They have to get paid quite well because the work is so tedious. I am tremedously greatful for the help of Lisa and MomMom. My hope is to get the livingroom near finished and to paint the kitchen this weekend.

We went back to the tile place today, and I'm hoping to get Nathan to jump on the slate bandwagon. We're looking at two slates: African Gold and California Gold. I am earger to get this decision made. When we bought the house I was really excited about making all of these design decisions. I still enjoy doing that, but there's just so much tile and paint you can look at before going nuts.

I am looking forward to getting all of the paint cut out of my hair tomorrow!

Catch-Up Blog

2008-04-21T08:00:00.006-04:00

Last week was a busy one. Mom-Mom and Papa came down again, and a lot of little things got taken care of. Papa rebuilt the brick flowerbed that surrounds the mailbox (it had apparently been run over a couple of times), and it looks much better; it is now worthy of flowers. He also worked a lot on fixing holes, cracks and imperfections in the walls to prepare for painting, of which a lot was done. Jessica finished painting the hallway and the living room. Mom-Mom and [plain] Mom worked on painting baseboards, trim, window frames, and crown molding. I continued work on the shower tile.

Friday, Jessica and I went to a tile place in Hixson to try to select bathroom and kitchen floor tile. We spent two hours there and barely decided on tile for the bathroom, which we ordered, but we're now indecisive about kitchen tile. (I don't know why, but I forgot to write about our ordering the granite for our countertops. It was a couple of weeks ago. We thought we had decided on granite a long time ago, but when we went to order it, we got to looking around and changed our minds. The granite we ordered is pictured below with the tile.)

We're trying to decide between "River Gold" (the second one from the top) and a much lighter, brownish tile. Jessica says the darker one goes better with the granite, but is afraid it might make the kitchen seem a little dark.

I thought I would be able to spend Saturday working on shower tile, but, to make a fairly long story fairly short, I ended up working on my aging Jeep all day with Wayne and Sam, father-in-law and brother-in-law, respectively. We replaced the radiator, replaced the alternator, and changed the oil. I am extremely grateful to them for helping me out; if I'd been working alone, the Jeep would probably still be in the driveway, but now it's running beautifully.

Yesterday Jessica had schoolwork to do, so I was at the house by myself working on shower tile for a few hours. It was slow going, as I had to cut each end piece as I came to it in order to get them to fit exactly right between the back wall and the door facing (and it sure was a pain cutting around that light switch).

This week, we hope to do a lot in the kitchen. It would be great to be able to get the walls in good shape so we can paint, and maybe bring the island back in. If we do that, we can get the granite people in to measure for countertops. I also hope to get [at least a few layers of] the old flooring torn up in preparation for tile in a couple of weeks.

I'll try not to wait so long before the next update. :-) Jessica, do you have anything to add?

Sunday and Pictures

2008-04-13T21:56:00.002-04:00

Today it was just me, Jessica, and Dad. I worked on the tub surround, of course. Jessica painted some ceiling and then worked on the living room wall; she got one coat on nearly the entire room. Dad painted for awhile, then worked on filling the joints in the sheetrock put in where the soffit had been. In fact, that job is now almost finished; I think only a little sanding remains. I am extremely grateful to Dad and Papa for their work on that task. It was something I was worried about a couple of weeks ago, but they got it done beautifully and I didn't ever have to think about it. Thank you both!

I've uploaded pictures taken today. A few are shown below, and the rest can be seen on the House Pictures website. They show the end results of this week's work, but they don't really give you a good idea of the amount of effort that went into everything shown. This has been a very productive week, and we owe that largely to loving family members who are incredibly generous with their time. Another 'Thank you' to all of you!

A Big Week

2008-04-12T22:23:00.006-04:00

I really should have blogged before tonight; there has been so much to write about. Mom-Mom and Papa brought their RV down on Tuesday and will leave early tomorrow morning. They have spent nearly the entire week working at the house.

Papa worked on a huge variety of tasks, including: working on the sheetrock in the kitchen and bathroom; filling innumerable holes and cracks in the ceiling and walls throughout the house; installing light fixtures; and mowing the lawn. Mom-Mom did a lot of painting--doors, hallway, bedroom, trim, etc. She also fixed dinner for us several nights. I cannot begin to express our abundant gratitude for their help.

Jessica worked on paint stuff almost exclusively. She was having trouble finding exactly what she wanted for the living room and hallway, and decided that what she really wanted was the color of the living room in our duplex. So I called our landlord and asked about the paint he used. It turns out he had kept the label that had the paint's formula printed on it, so we wrote that down and took it to Home Depot. They mixed up a gallon of it, and it looks right, so I think that's what we're going to use. Crazy, huh?

We also worked on finding a green that we like for the back bedroom which we'll use as an office. The first attempt looked like a florescent mint chocolate chip ice cream (sans chips), so we tried again today and "Zen Mist" turned out to be a winner.

Most of my time was spent working on the tub surround. I finished tiling the back wall and did some work on the other walls to prepare them for tile.

Unfortunately, I forgot every day to bring the camera to the house, so I don't have pictures to prove I'm not just making all this up. Surely tomorrow I'll remember to bring it, so check back tomorrow night for further updates and new photos!

Visible Progress

2008-04-06T22:19:00.007-04:00

We're getting to a point where almost all the progress we make is readily apparent, and it's pleasing. It's so nice to see instantaneous and highly visible results of your work. I continued tiling the tub surround, and I've almost finished the back wall. Jessica and Mom painted ceilings and walls. Dad tackled putting up insulation and drywall in the hole in the kitchen. We got a lot of work done this weekend, thanks to the help of some wonderful parents and grandparents. Thank you all so much!

We've been buying a lot of paint lately, and Jessica is concerned over color. The biggest problem is that what you see on the sample swatch thingy and decide upon is not really how the paint looks once you get it up on the wall. I suppose that's common, and even expected, but it's still a problem, and we don't really know what to do about it.

By the way, the pictures of the painted bedroom make the walls look strange (almost greenish in one picture), but they're a nice light brown color called "Cookie Crumb":

(Actually, they're supposed to be that color, but actually they're quite a bit darker. What to do...?)

A Big Day

2008-04-05T22:12:00.004-04:00

When we arrived at the house this morning, Mom-Mom and Papa were already there. After some thought we decided that, since the cabinet painting is pretty much done, we might as well start on one of the bedrooms. Papa helped fix holes and cracks in the wall and ceiling while I went to buy paint. Jessica and Mom-Mom began painting the ceiling and doing edges and corners on the walls. Papa later worked on making boards to go in the toe space below the kitchen cabinets on the floor, and also made further progress on the soffit-hole patching project.

I finally began tiling the shower today. I've spent so much time in preparation that it was exhilarating (and a bit nerve-wracking) to actually start putting tile on the wall. I used my wet saw and was very pleased with it; I can't imagine not having bought one. Things went reasonably well, though I almost wish I'd have built a wall to practice on first, as I've learned a few lessons during the process that I wish I'd known at the outset.

Wayne and Tammie came for a few hours this afternoon. Wayne put up a new piece of particle board on the garage ceiling to replace the one that was rotted (The brevity of the preceding sentence belies the length and tedium of the task; it was not an enviable job.), and Tammie helped paint in the bedroom.

My parents also came by, though briefly and not simultaneously. Mom brought her camera and took some of the pictures you see in this post (we forgot ours). Dad helped Papa install the new light fixture in the bedroom after the ceiling was painted.

Pipes and Wire

2008-04-01T21:23:00.005-04:00

Yesterday the plumbers finished up their work while the electricians began theirs. This evening, the electricians finished. Among a few other tasks, they consolidated our many dilapidated fuse boxes into one big breaker box; installed GFI protected outlets in the bathrooms, kitchen, and garage; and, most notably, installed five "can lights" in the kitchen:

Jessica is very excited about the can lights, as they really brighten up the kitchen a lot and make things seem just that much closer to finished. I am very pleased with the work our electricians did.

On the way home from work today, we stopped at a lighting store and bought a chandelier for the kitchen and a fixture that Jessica says may replace the one she bought for the living room. She's very happy with the chandelier, but I think she's unsure of the style and configuration she wants for the remaining lights (living room, hallway, bedrooms).

We have a lot of sheetrock work to do, a ton of junk needs to be hauled to the dump, and I still haven't laid a single tile in the shower yet, so this weekend is sure to be a busy one. I'll try to keep the pictures and updates coming your way!

(I've uploaded pictures from the past couple of days, so check the "House Pictures" link in the right-hand margin to see them.)

Sunday

2008-03-30T22:02:00.003-04:00

I forgot to take pictures today, but there really wasn't much to see. I went to the house after church/lunch and continued working on the tub surround. I filled the gaps between the pieces of backer board with thinset mortar, and caulked the gap between the backer board and the tub. Jessica had to do a lot of school work again today, but she came over for awhile to prime the cabinet fronts in the kitchen.

Dad came over for a few hours, too. There had been a small leak in the roof over the garage (until Dad found and patched it a couple of weeks ago), and the piece of particle board ceiling under the leak was badly discolored and rotted in spots, so Dad brought over a new piece of board for us to install. We took the old piece down and figured we might as well check to see if he had indeed patched the leak successfully. We took a water hose onto the roof where the leak was and for about a half hour we simulated just about every type of natural water bombardment short of a hurricane; we saw no convincing evidence of a leak.

The plumbers are supposed to come back tomorrow to finish up their work, and the electrician is also scheduled to work tomorrow. I am kind of nervous. I'm not sure they'll all be able to do their work without impeding one another to at least some degree. Thus, I'm worried they may not finish everything tomorrow like they estimated. Also, the part of me that's a little obsessive-compulsive is worried that I won't be able to keep an eye what all is going on and make sure everything is being done the way we want it. If everything does go well, though, I hope to begin tiling the tub surround at some point.

I'd better get to bed. If nothing else, tomorrow is sure to be demanding.

Saturday

2008-03-30T09:24:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was a good, solid work day. Mom-Mom and Papa arrived at around 9:30, and Papa and I were working on the shower wall right off the bat. We put in a couple of small 2-by-4 pieces to reinforce the front wall, then we put up roofing felt with staples. The roofing felt isn't completely necessary, but it's something suggested as just one more barrier against moisture penetration. After that, we installed the backer board for the tile. I bought a product called Hardibacker. It's a half-inch board made of some sort of cement that's meant for use in wet areas like the shower. We cut it with a small table saw and a masonry blade. We secured it to the studs with coated screws (whose holes we had to pre-drill with a carbide-tipped bit).

In the meantime, Mom-Mom and Jessica painted cabinets. Then, after lunch, Wayne and Tammie came by and the four of them went to Home Depot. Jessica bought light fixtures for the living room and the bathroom. Wayne helped install the living room fixture, and it looks great.

Late in the afternoon, my dad delivered some sheetrock (which we'll eventually use to fix the giant hole in the kitchen where the soffit used to be) and retrieved some unused insulation from the attic, then stuck around to help me finish up installing backer board after my grandparents had left.

This afternoon, while Jessica is working on stuff for school, I hope to make a lot of progress on the shower wall. Perhaps this evening I can write another blog entry and thus not be a day behind anymore.

Plumbing

2008-03-29T08:30:00.005-04:00

Yesterday, I took the day off work to meet plumbers at the house. There are several tasks I wanted done, and they got about halfway through. They replaced the galvanized pipe running to the shower while setting up the tub/shower fixtures, installed a drain in the tub, and adjusted the position of the supply pipes for the sink. They're supposed to come back on Monday to do the rest of the work. (The electrician is also supposed to do his work Monday; the plumbers said they could make do with battery-powered tools.) While they were working, I worked on some minor adjustments to the front and kitchen doors. Working with locks, doors, and hinges--getting it all to align and work properly--is some of the most difficult and tedious work I've done so far. Then again, I haven't started shower tiling yet....

The completion of plumbing work in the tub/shower means that I can finally start tiling the tub surround. I plan on working on that all day today. Papa and Mom-Mom are coming down sometime this morning. I'm not sure who else might show up, but I think it will be a very productive day, despite the dreary weather.

Week One Ends

2008-03-22T21:33:00.004-04:00

Today marks the end of one of the most busy, interesting, and curiously enjoyable weeks of my life. It has been a monstrous deviation from my normal life, and in that respect has been a sort of vacation--an escape from normalcy and total removal from the cares of my job, almost like I was living someone else's life for a week.

We got a lot accomplished today. Mom-Mom and Papa came down to help for the third consecutive day. We are enormously grateful to them; without their help we would be far behind where we are now. My father-in-law Wayne helped us get the bathtub set into its place, then Papa and I worked on the tub surround. The existing studs were a little out of plane and were set too far back from the above wall for my tile job to work right, so we screwed new lengths of 2-by-4's alongside them, defining a new plane to which the tile backer board will be secured. We then worked together with my dad on installing a sort of frame for sheetrock that will create new wall and ceiling sections where the soffit used to be. These were all very tedious and time-consuming tasks, and I'm very glad they got done today. I owe a lot of thanks to Dad and Papa for helping with them. Mom-Mom and Jessica trimmed some shrubs in the front, and Wayne and Jessica worked on the kitchen-to-garage door.

There's still a lot left to do, and some of the work is quite intimidating, but I had fun this week and I'm looking forward to making more progress, although after tomorrow we'll be returning to our real jobs and of course we'll have far less time to work on the house. It will be aggravating to have to go back to work knowing there is still so much left to do at the house. I figure I'll try to work a couple of nights each week, and of course on the weekends. We need to have the house move-in-able by the end of May, and we hope to have most everything finished not too long after that.

This may be the last post for a few days, but keep checking the blog for exciting new updates on our plumbing!

Homeowners

2008-03-21T23:01:00.006-04:00

We closed on the house this morning, and we are now officially homeowners. It feels good to have that taken care of. After we left the title company's office, we went out and bought a new bathtub, toilet, a pedestal sink, (Actually, we only bought the pedestal part of the sink; the pedestal top was out of stock. The only other Lowe's in the area that had any was in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, which is quite a drive away. Fortunately for us, Jessica's parents were on their way back from Atlanta this evening, and they were nice enough to swing by the Fort O. Lowe's and pick up the top to our pedestal sink. Quite a parenthetical statement, eh?), and fixtures for the shower and sink.

While Jessica and I were out spending money, Mom-Mom, Papa, and my mom were out at the house working again. The mother and grandmother painted cabinets yet again. Yesterday, Papa and I were looking at the kitchen island and noticed that its supports were damaged and falling apart, so today he worked on reinforcing (and, in some cases, replacing) them.

Tomorrow, I plan on tackling the bathroom. I want to get the tub put in and start working on getting the tub surround prepared for tiling. Jessica has to do some school work in the morning, so I'm not sure if anyone else will be working with me, but even though I'm tired I feel very motivated to get some major things done before I return to work on Monday.

Lastly, Jessica took a picture of some bushes that were outside the title company's office this morning and she wanted to know if anyone out there knew what kind of plant it was. She wants to find out because she thought they were very pretty. The picture is below. Any guesses? (You can click on the picture for a larger view.)

More Progress

2008-03-20T19:36:00.003-04:00

Mom-Mom and Papa did come down this morning, but they decided not to bring their RV down. Mom also came by later. The ladies continued painting cabinets, while Papa and I did assorted other tasks. We worked on the front door latch/lock; finished cutting the tub surround wall in preparation for tile backerboard; took down most of the kitchen cabinets in preparation for patching the "hole" where the soffit was; and various other small chores.

I spoke with our realtor and our bank guy today, and they tell me that everything is in place for closing. The title company has finally worked everything out, and we are meeting at 10:00 tomorrow morning to close on the house. It will be such a relief to have it taken care of and be able to focus purely on getting work done. After the closing I think we're going to celebrate by buying a new bathtub and maybe a sink.

I've uploaded a few pictures from today. All the house pictures can be found on the same picture site, and I've provided the link to this site in a few previous blog posts, but now I've also added a permanent link in the margin on the right side of the page. You can use that link to check the pictures page at any time.

Soffit

2008-03-19T22:18:00.004-04:00

I'm through with the "Renovation Day #" blog titles; they're very dull and not very useful. Today we worked on taking out the soffit in the kitchen. I had never even heard the word before, but Jessica said it had to go. For those of you unsure of what a soffit is, see the pictures. (I've uploaded new pictures of tub removal and cabinet painting from yesterday, as well as soffit-removal pictures from today.)

Mom-Mom and Papa are coming back down tomorrow. This time they're bringing their RV and staying the night. We got a lot done with their help yesterday; we'll be glad to have them here again.

Renovation Day 4

2008-03-18T23:22:00.004-04:00

Mom-Mom and Papa came down this morning, my mom arrived soon after, and we all got a lot accomplished. We're very grateful that they came. Mom, Jessica, and Mom-Mom worked on priming and painting kitchen cabinet doors. Papa and I worked on several things. First we got the old bathtub out of the bathroom. This took quite awhile because the tub is made of iron and weighs a few hundred pounds, and because it was very neatly enclosed in its spot on the floor. We then cleaned and flushed out the gutters; it is supposed to rain tomorrow. Lastly, we went back to the bathroom to discuss walls and tile underlayment. Later, Kent and Laura (Jessica's brother and my sister; my brother-in-law and Jessica's sister-in-law; and Laura's boyfriend and Kent's girlfriend, respectively) dropped by and helped with the cabinet door painting.

Mom brought over a crock pot of "white chili" for lunch. It was made with chicken, chicken broth, salsa, and pepper jack cheese; it was absolutely delicious. Thanks again, Mom.

We heard from our realtor who had spoken with the title company and got more affirmation that indeed we should be closing on Friday. I hope this time it's the real deal.

We took a lot of pictures today, but I won't be able to upload them until tomorrow. Goodnight, finally!

Renovation Day 3

2008-03-17T22:42:00.004-04:00

We were supposed to close today, but it didn't happen. It's a long story, but basically we're still waiting on SunTrust, the leinholder, to complete whatever correspondence with the sellers and the title company that they need to, and we likely won't close until Thursday or Friday. I'm sure things will work out just fine, but it's frustrating to keep being held up.

Below are a few pictures, and the last three show today's projects. The first one was taken yesterday and displays the results of my dad's hard work taking out the tile in the tub surround (and me taking measurements). The second one is of the door that Wayne and Jessica put in today--the door leading from the garage to the back yard. The third shows some cabinet doors after being sanded. Jessica wants to paint the kitchen cabinets white, so we're going to lightly sand them all first so they'll hold primer/paint better. Last is the mailbox that I mounted and put numbers on.

My grandparents (hereafter known as Mom-Mom and Papa) are coming down from Sweetwater tomorrow to work on some things with us. We're really looking forward to having them here; their company and their help will be much appreciated.

Bring Your Money!

2008-03-16T21:33:00.004-04:00

I have never spent so much money in my life. It feels crazy to save all of my paychecks for seven months and then spend it left and right for three days. Today I bought all of our appliances. Dad was an amazing help in the whole process. He has skill in getting deals. I am totally thrilled with what we got. H. H. Gregg just opened in Chattanooga this weekend, and they were serious about making deals. I bought a Whirlpool fridge and range and a Maytag dishwasher, and stayed under budget, even with delivery! I can't wait to make my first cheesecake in my new oven. I'm glad that we were able to work all weekend even though we are not closing until tomorrow. I can't wait to actually be the offical owner of this house! After this weekend, I think it's going to be killer when it's done! I wanted to thank everyone for all of their help before I sign off. The amount of help has been unbelievable. Without it all, we wouldn't have bathroom tile gone, tools delivered, cabinet doors off, sanded floor borders, clean walls, curtain rods taken down, clean windows, new locks, a new front door, and plenty of other things that aren't popping into my mind. THANK YOU ALL! We love you very much and deeply appreciate your help.

It's been a long road finally getting here, but I feel like God has really taken care of us through this whole thing. I was devastated when we lost the first house we were trying to get, and I could not understand why we didn't get it. Now we're working on the one that He had planned for us all along, and I couldn't be more happy. Nathan and I feel so blessed.

Renovation Day 1

2008-03-16T09:49:00.004-04:00

I was going to blog last night, but it was quite late when we got home and my brain was too tired to come up with things to say. It did indeed rain for most of the day, but it was really only an annoyance; we got quite a bit of work done.

I'm sure the neighbors were surprised to see six vehicles parked in front of a house that hasn't been inhabited for three years. All members of our immediate families were there in their entirety (minus Evan, my brother) working at some point during the day. Jessica and her dad, Wayne, worked on putting in our new doors and locks, and I started demolition of the tub surround. It's almost time for us to leave for church, so for now I'll let the pictures do the talking. A few of the pictures are shown below. The rest can be seen here.

Work Begins

2008-03-15T08:48:00.006-04:00

The weather is really blah, but we're heading out to buy materials and begin working. It's a very interesting feeling. Jessica said it's like Christmas.

We want to get new front and back doors/locks put in today, and maybe a mailbox. Since it's a rainy day, it would be a good time for me to investigate a roof leak that we have over the garage. I also will probably start demolition of the existing tile tub surround. I plan to rebuild the tub surround from scratch, unless what's under the existing tile is in perfect shape. I hope we can remember to take lots of pictures so everyone can see what we're up to. More to come soon!

Carrying On

2008-03-14T17:39:00.005-04:00

Despite the frustration we both feel (as demonstrated in Jessica's post below), things are still okay. We have been told that closing will most likely occur on Monday, and that we may carry on with whatever work we wanted to do this weekend. So, pragmatically, things haven't really changed. We're even keeping our plans for celebratory dinner. :-)

Renovation begins tomorrow!

The Deal does NOT Go Down

2008-03-14T16:40:00.002-04:00

I am writing this, my first blog ever, as a highly irritated and exasperated non-homeowner. We were supposed to close this afternoon at 4:00, but there was a senseless hang-up. The lien holder on the house asked the current owners and their bank for more money than originally agreed upon. One would think the problem would be that the borrowers would not agree to the lien holder's new terms, but this is not true. The problem is that the lein holder has to acknowledge that they do, indeed, want more money, but they are apparently not in a hurry to do so. The new hope is to close on Monday. My faith in that is quite slim right now. I may never move again once we get into this house. The process has been so stressful.

The Deal Goes Down

2008-03-14T10:56:00.005-04:00

We are closing on the house today at 4:00. Dad and Mom have very generously offered to take us out to a celebratory dinner afterwards; we're very excited about both events.

I'm taking today off to get some stuff done. My friend and coworker Russell has let me borrow his truck (Jessica's is very ill and should probably be put down), so I took a bunch of tools to the house and dropped them off in the garage in preparation for the first big work day tomorrow. I stood there in that old cluttered garage pondering the innumerable, unfamiliar tasks that lie ahead, and for a moment I thought, "What in the world have I gotten myself into?" I then reminded myself that all big projects seem insurmountable until you actually get started. I'm sure that (or, rather, I'm praying hard that) by the end of tomorrow I'll feel confident, encouraged, and motivated.

I've spent a lot of spare time searching for tile this week. After making innumerable phone calls and driving all over Hamilton county, we found a shower tile. Ironically, it was one of the first and most readily available shower tiles we looked at: a simple, white, 3" x 6" ceramic subway tile from Lowe's. We were going to go with porcelain in the shower because of its superior resistance to water absorption, but the cost was prohibitive; it was almost twice as expensive as the ceramic. The tile is like that pictured below:

Now, we need only select bathroom and kitchen floor tile.

It's supposed to rain all day today, and they're predicting storms for most of tomorrow, which is a real bummer, but it will only really prevent such jobs as putting in a mailbox and repairing the chimney and gutters; there will be plenty of other things to do.

Next week, Jessica is on spring break and I'm taking the week off. We're hoping to knock a sizable dent in the house work. Starting tomorrow, blog posts will be lower on the priority list, but I'll do my best to relay the important stuff consistently.

Granite and Reality

2008-03-09T13:22:00.010-04:00

Yesterday we went searching for tile and granite for the kitchen and bathroom. We found some granite we like for the kitchen counters. Below is a picture of the granite pattern; the picture doesn't look exactly like the granite does "in person", but it's close enough to give you a good idea.
In coordination with this choice, we think we've also decided upon kitchen tile, as well as wall and cabinet colors. More to come on these items soon.

The reality is setting in. I borrowed a truckload of tools from Dad yesterday (Thanks again!). I've made an immense list of finely granulated tasks, and now we're actually sitting down and deciding the priority and order of each one. Then we're going to (*gulp*) make a shopping list of tools and materials.

Less than two months ago, this kind of work was the farthest thing from my mind; now we're diving into a full-scale project whose outcome couldn't have a greater impact on our future. We're definitely excited. For me especially, this sort of challenge is very inviting. I look forward to sinking my teeth into it.

Anticipation

2008-03-03T08:28:00.002-05:00

Barring some unforeseen incident, we'll be homeowners is less than two weeks, and we're excited. We're very eager to get started on all the work to be done. (I wonder how long this energetic enthusiasm will endure...) We attended a brief tiling clinic/workshop at Home Depot on Saturday, and I got to hear everything I'd read on the internet about tiling confirmed and pseudo-demonstrated by a real person who at least appeared to know what he was talking about.

We're very thankful for the opportunity to buy this great house and to fix it up the way we want, and we feel very blessed to have such loving and supportive families who have already shown such willingness to help out by giving advice, lending tools, and offering to help with the actual work. Thank you all!

Financing and Shower Tile

2008-02-26T20:29:00.004-05:00

The guy from the bank we've been working with called us today and said that the appraisal was complete. The appraised value was enough that they will definitely be able to loan us the money for the purchase plus the money for the improvements we want to do.

It seems, then, that everything is ready to go for the March 14th closing date. However, with all the work we've done so far, it's easy to forget that March 14th is actually when the real work begins.

Until then, we'll be inundating ourselves with knowledge of tiling, sink installation, and plaster walls. Besides the bit of rewiring we're going to have done, we think we're going to able to do almost everything without hiring contractors, which will help greatly to keep our costs down. I'm looking forward to tackling the challenges, but it's also quite intimidating; the better the quality and thoroughness of our work, the better off we'll be when we close on permanent financing (at which point the house will be re-appraised and a conventional mortgage will initiate).

I reckon now is as good a time as any to ask for tiling advice. After doing some research, it seems that tiling the kitchen and bathroom floors won't be too much trouble, but I'm particularly concerned about the complexity and tedium of tiling the shower/tub walls. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of task? Any advice, warnings, etc.? Thanks in advance!

Closer

2008-02-23T09:24:00.004-05:00

We're slowly getting closer to closing the deal on the house.

I met with two electricians yesterday (never could get in touch with anyone from Foster Electric) to get some estimates, and costs were right around what we expected, if not a little lower, so that was good news. The selective rewiring we want done is right at the top of our priority list.

I also talked to our loan guy yesterday and he said the appraisal should by complete by Tuesdsay. The bank needs to know how much the home will be worth after all our work is done, so the appraisal is to be done with the idea that the house has already undergone all the work we want to do with the extra money they'll loan us. So we expect to hear a final word on the financing by Wednesday.

Nothing to do now but wait....and discuss interior paint colors. More to come next week!

Electricians

2008-02-21T09:23:00.020-05:00

First, today is Jessica's birthday. Happy birthday, wife!

After the home inspection, we learned that the wiring in the house is, predictably, outdated and obsolete. We want to get the worst of this taken care of immediately by upgrading/ consolidating our breaker panels and upgrading some outlets to grounded and, in some cases, GCFI-protected circuits.

I didn't have any electricians recommended to me, so I just flipped through the Yellow Pages and emerged with these: Mr. Electric, PRO Electric, and Foster Electric. For Mr. Electric and Foster, I visited their websites and investigated them for grammatical and spelling errors; things looked good. All three are "licensed, bonded, and insured" and the last two are BBB members, so I figured I couldn't easily go wrong. Then, in a manner not unlike that of an air traffic controller, I set about carefully orchestrating consecutive, non-overlapping appointments with three different electricians to give me (free) estimates on the work we want done.

I also set up an inspection by our homeowner's insurance agent. They have to check out the ancient wiring before we can get an insurance policy on it. If this sounds paradoxical given the preceding paragraphs, that's because it is. I suppose it will be something like...
Agent: "Yes, the condition of this wiring is acceptable to our underwriters; we'll insure the house."
Us: "Thanks! ...Now, let's call Mr. Electric and get this old wiring replaced!"

"Before"

2008-02-20T14:22:00.009-05:00

I took a bunch of pictures of the house a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully, we'll be able to look at these "before" pictures a few months from now and be amazed at their contrast with the "after" pictures. Below are a few of these shots; the rest can be viewed here.

Introduction

2008-02-20T09:42:00.005-05:00

If we can get the oddly-configured financing we need, Jessica and I will take possession of our new house on Hickory View Lane on Friday, March 14. If all goes as expected, we will soon be totally enveloped by matters related to our outdated, dilapidated, new house--and for quite awhile. I cannot imagine a better tool than a blog for keeping a journal of and sharing with friends and family the events that will ensue.

Please feel free to add comments to the blog entries--words of encouragement; home improvement advice, criticisms, recommendations, and warnings; or just simple discussion.

(Blog authors always begin with the grandiose idea that they're going to write and post blog entries at least weekly on a consistent basis for the rest of their lives, but, inevitably, most will lose their motivation after a week or two. I am no exception, but I'll do my best.)