Memorial Day Weekend.

For the first time in 16 years, we were unable to take our Memorial Day weekend camping trip with Deb's family.  As much as we would have rather been camping, we just have too much left to do on the house.  Our original move in estimate was Memorial Day...

 

Cole had to be at the high school at 7:30 Saturday morning to present the colors at AHS Graduation.  So Deb and I dropped him off, then hit Hardman's for the stuff we needed to build our closet shelves and close off the back door where the master bath is to go.

 

Earlier in the week, Deb was having trouble picturing my vision for the closet organization so we went and looked at the shelves Grandaddy made for mom and dad's closets many years ago.  After that, we took some Frog tape and mocked up our closet.

 

 

She was still having a little trouble visualizing but she trusted me to go ahead with my plan.  When all is said and done I plan to have built a $1,000 to $1,500 closet organization system for under $300.

 

The best plywood Hardman's had was B/C so we spent a lot of time sanding Saturday and Sunday and ended up with something closer to A/B.  We still aren't finished with them, so that is on the agenda for this weekend.

 

Here is what we have so far.  Deb started painting since these pictures were taken, but you'll have to wait for them to be finished before you see that.

 

Here is all but one unit and the top shelf installed and ready for paint.

 

 

Dad came over Monday and helped me remove the outside door, frame the opening in and put siding over the, no longer there, doorway.  Every little step helps the light at the end of the tunnel grow some.  When I see a finished project, no matter how big or small, I feel accomplished and can tell all our work is getting closer to being finished.

The inside.

 



 

And the outside.

 

Well, that's where we are heading into today and tomorrow.  Sorry I am so late with the blog update.

 

We have plenty of little behind the scenes things to do this weekend, not to mention finishing the closet, to prepare for what we hope will be a pretty weekend, next weekend.  I have had a really hard time planning the removal of the fireplace and chimney in the master bedroom because of all the rain we've had.  I really don't want to have that wall opened up and get stopped by another storm that drops 2 inches of rain like the one yesterday evening.  If it ends up being nice next weekend, that will be our major project.  Stay tuned.



Open invitation.

No, it's not time for an open house.  We had originally hoped we would be moving in over Memorial Day weekend, but we have really taken our time and done things right as much as we could figure out how to.  So instead of our annual Memorial Day camping trip, we will be on site working on the house some more.  So here comes the invitation.  No, not an invitation to come out and contribute free labor to our renovation.  An invitation to stop by if you are in the area and say hi.  Everyday, we hear from one person or another that they really want to see the house.  Now, I know what those of you who have thought about stopping by and didn't were thinking.  You don't want to hinder us.  Well, forget that.  We probably could use a break and we actually enjoy company.  So, stop by if you have 5 minutes.  We have had a few family members come by and see what we've been up to.  And even had some friends from Hot Springs Village drive down after spending all day in a training classroom in Arkadelphia.  No, it wasn't but about 30 minutes out of their way, but they did have another 2 hours of driving to get their kids and go back home after they left our house.  So those of you that live close and have been meaning to come see us have no excuse.  Come see us.  People don't stop by and visit the way they used to and Deb and I are just as guilty as everyone else.  Once we get this thing done and moved in, I am going to work to do better.

 

Anyway, rant over.  Here is what's been going on lately.  Cole kept telling Deb, when she asked what color he wanted his room, that plain white was fine.  Just paint it white he said over and over.  So a gallon and a half of white paint later and an all white room, he tells her this weekend he wants a Razorback Red accent wall and an Anthrocite accent wall.  So back to Hardman's Deb went to find those two colors.  She still has a coat of red to go, but here is the semi finished result.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the Clark + Kensington paint we've been using on the interior walls.  And the Paint Dozer.  If you are about to do any painting, go buy a paint dozer!  It was worth all 197 pennies.  No paint spray when you hammer the lid back on the paint can.

 

 

It's tough to get all the reno work done and keep the place up.  Add to that the wet spring we have had and well, I get overwhelmed.  My weekend began with Cole and I cleaning up the yard while Deb went to a meeting in Searcy.  Here is Cole skidding tops and trees with the RZR.

 

 

 

  I left Cole to continue cleaning up residual ice storm damage and moved inside to finish mudding the sheetrock in the closet.

 

 

Cole helped me hang the rock and Deb helped me tape and mud it.  I think we did pretty good for a bunch of amateurs who have never attempted sheetrocking.

 

Here is a shot of my biggest screw up.  If you look real close, you can see a slight shadow on the wall.  I guess I had a fire block sticking out a little bit right at the joint.  If you aren't looking for it you probably won't see it.  And after I get through with the shelves and hanging rods this weekend, you won't ever see it again.  So revel in my error while you can.  LOL!

 

 

While Deb was painting the closet Sunday, I got started taking more v-boards off the wall where we will be adding the master bathroom.

 

 

So that's where we are.  This long weekend we have to get the master closet finished.  I need to get the door above removed and closed off.  I don't expect to get much more than that done, but the closet work alone is probably enough to take 3 days.  I'll be trying to squeeze it into 2 days so I can get the door gone and yard mowed weather permitting.

Muddin' the rock!

I don't know if I have said it on the blog or not, but I have a new level of respect for contractors, electricians, carpenters, rock hangers, etc.  With the help of Google, I feel we can do anything we set our minds to and this renovation is no exception to that.  However, it has definitely been a learning process and will continue to be.  I know I could pay people to do all of the things we are doing and had we done so, we'd be moved in already.  But the satisfaction of having done all this ourselves is worth the extra effort.  (Not to mention the amount of money saved.)

 

We started last week hanging the sheetrock in the new master closet.  I was able to do most of the bottom row by myself but brought Cole in to help me hang the top row.  Saturday, we were able to get most of the top row up but after a learning experience involving cutting out a door way and light switch, we were left without enough sheetrock to finish that day.  It was just as well since we were running out of time before Julia's wedding in Little Rock anyway. 

 

Here we are at Julia's wedding reception.  Deb cleans up pretty good if I may say so myself.  We meant to get a picture of the whole family but time got away from us and we forgot.

 

 

 Cole and I did get the last of the rock (apparently the pros call it rock instead of sheet rock) hung in the closet yesterday.  Deb and I taped it and put the first layer of mud on last night.  I forgot to take pictures of my shoddy hanging job.  After seeing how well the mud covers screw-ups, I wish I had.  I think it is coming together nicely.

 

Here's my favorite mudder.

 

 

Not sure what she was doing in that picture but here she is showing off her screw hole mud job.

 

And here are the views of the walls.  Two more layers of mud and a little sanding and it will be ready for paint.

 

 

 

Progress.

We are feeling like we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.  It's just a tiny speck of light, way, way off, but at least we can see it.

 

Deb finished painting the rest of the closets this weekend.  We forgot to take before pictures, so we just leaned up a shelf from each closet that was the original paint color to show off the change.  It is amazing how far a few coats of paint go.

 

Here is the coat closet in the front hall.

 

 

And this is the closet in Bedroom 3.

 

 

This is Cole's room.  Deb got the closet painted, cleaned up the window, and got the trim painted.

 

 

We started out Saturday morning installing the new window in the sewing room.

 

 

First we removed the old aluminum windows.

 

Then I fit into place the frame I built Thursday evening.

 

Here is the closet side with the window closed up.  It actually looks like a closet now.

 

Removing the plastic shipping clips.

 

Removing the rest of the siding boards.

 

We decided to go ahead and insulate the partition wall for sound deadening between the closet and sewing room.

 

Here is the sewing room with the finished wall.  We still have to trim out the window and put the molding and base board back up.

 

And here is the semi-finished exterior wall.  The original siding is redwood.  Most of it is still in good shape.  Hardman's has 1 X 12's in cedar, so that is what we are replacing the few pieces that are rotten with.