Day 70 - 72 - It's All About the Floors

I have to say, I feel very badly for my Aunt. And if she feels like I sold her a bad deal, I wouldn't blame her. But the day before she arrived, I found out I wasn't able to move into the house as expected. That really put a crimp in my plans. But given that I can do nothing about contractor delays, and she was already on the road, I had to make the most of it.

Knowing that the final coat was going on the floors, and knowing that any imperfection would be because I wasn't diligent on the cleaning of the baseboards, we started (and I use the term "we" loosely) to wipe down all the wood in the house.

Have you seen the pictures of the first floor? Wood is pretty much the theme.

And while we were working, the guys reminded me that the main floor bath needed to be primed. I hate painting wainscoting. I also caulked the seams. I think I earned a little "contractor cred".  Maybe. But honestly, I enjoy working in my house. It's MINE!

And while Roxanne toiled away with the shop vac and Murphy's Oil Soap, and I cussed those little lines in the wainscoting, the guys finished putting in the vanity top in the master bath. Sad moment... I'm not completely sold on the vanity/paint/tile combination. I'm not completely sold on the main floor bathroom paint color, either, but I'm waiting to see the final product. But the vanity...it is pretty cool. I just have to pick out a complementing mirror (read: more shopping).

After we finished up the cleaning/priming etc., we had a day of "rest", packing/sorting the following day.  While we were doing this, the magic was happening at the house. 93 year old oak hardwood floors were being transformed into something new and vibrant. I'm still mad I couldn't move in, but... I get it. So the following day, we went to the house, and in barefeet/footies, we toured the house. I couldn't be more pleased.

Laundry Room

Dining Room/Living Room

Front Bedroom

The floors are the same color, but my camera and the lighting in each room makes things look different. They are basically the most like the laundry room picture (I think).

I could sit and stare at these floors for HOURS.  They did a wonderful job. I decided that I would go with 3 coats of poly for a natural look. The house doesn't have the best natural lighting. Therefore, dark wasn't really an option. They're just so beautiful.

Days 54 - 69 I should leave town more often

I had to leave town for work for days 58 thru 63. It was a good thing and a bad thing. It was good because I needed to step away again. I was working a lot of hours at the house and I needed a break. But at the same time, things were starting to move forward at a really fast pace! I hated to miss it.

When I left, I had drywall. And when I returned...I had a ROOM. That's right. The attic is now, really and truly, a room. With paint and ceiling texture and a door and baseboard. I'm just amazed. Simply amazed.

Here's a slow progression of the attic renovation.

Raw oak cap on the wall around the stairs

New framing around the windows

Trying to match the door style

And then we get paint and stain:

Looks very close to the other doors

Hello Painters

This may be my favorite thing. The craftsmanship

In addition to the painting upstairs, the kitchen counter was finally "fully" installed. Again, I'm just amazed by these countertops. And by adding 1 1/2" lip to the countertops, I feel like I have more counter space. Plus... BACKSPLASH. Can I just say...I'm so pleased with my choices. Everyone knows Purple is my favorite color, but I think I'm rocking the green pretty well. And black!

Partially painted, backsplash tile started

Loving the tile

Then there's the floor in the master bath...Yeah. I'm geeking out a little...

Subfloor

TILE!!!

And finally... the hardwood floors...almost complete. And so PRETTY!! Coat 3 will be done coming up in the next couple of days.

Stain Choices

Raw floors, beautiful!

2 coats

1 coat

So we're winding down. Or ramping up. Take your pick. It's all coming together like a well oiled machine, except maybe a couple of weeks behind my schedule. I won't be able to move in by September 30, but when I do move in, most, if not all of the small items will be completed. I can hardly wait!

Day 50 thru 53 - It's ALIVE (Ok, it's just WALLS)

When they told me things would move quickly, I didn't really realize just HOW quickly. And it's so exciting! I keep saying "this is so exciting" when last month I was saying "this is so stressful" but I really have no other words for it. Now that the stress of getting my necessary projects done, the colors picked out, the fixtures, the tile, the toilets...and almost all the painting completed, things are starting to take shape.

Even though it was a holiday weekend, it's also the weekend where appliances go on sale because the new models will come out soon. I bought my appliances from Sears, after I price shopped and did my due diligence with Consumer Reports (and walked out of Nebraska Furniture Mart when no one would wait on me). Then I cried when I paid the bill. Seriously. I didn't go overboard, I didn't get all the bells and whistles. I bought what I needed, what will fit, and I'm going to hope it looks good as well. 

I started looking at carpeting. That's all I can say about that. Other than I took pictures. Again, what's with all the damn choices?!

We also started to spruce up the yard. However, we still haven't touched the bushes in the front of the house. It's not the right time of the season to clean those up. But the choker weeds, and the rogue trees are now gone, and it looks cleaner. 9 yard waste bags later, it should. Thank you to Bob and Anthony for helping me. I had originally just wanted to borrow the lawn mower!!

I also remembered that I needed to paint the laundry room (opps). So I started that and will finish up in a day or two. Small room, one person job. Using the same paint as the front bedroom because I like it. It looks cleaner already (and I really am bad at taking "before" pictures!) Also thinking about shelving in the room. I struggle with that because all the walls are plaster and lathe...so I don't really know how to hang shelves. But I'll figure it out at some point.

So, without further ado... here's the attic space with WALLS. That's right, I said it. REAL WALLS! And so many choices for bed placement! Squeeee!

Looking towards the bathroom.

Remember when?!

Bathroom, where the vanity will be

Looking south, towards the back of the house

Day 46 thru 49 - The Cabinet Reveal (Among Other Things)

Since we are now post "tape removal" from the painting marathon, I'm pretty sure things are going to start moving pretty quickly.

And to that end... I present "the cabinets". The culmination of my weekends, evenings and stress for the past month. I'm pretty damn proud. I also learned a lot in this process.

Here's the before of the cabinets. Missing handles, crappy paint job. Very unappealing. The entire kitchen is white. It felt so sterile. It's not a small kitchen, but the white made it seem... something (or nothing). So I chose cream and green as my cabinet colors, with a black granite that has a green/gold speckling in it. 

Here is the "almost" finished product. These "pre-installation" pictures give an idea of where my own personal design is going. The backsplash (which is currently the old linoleum from the floors, as seen above) will be a green glass subway tile. Not exactly sure when that is going to be installed, but pretty soon, as things seem to be moving quickly. The cream cabinets up top (which the insides shelves still need to be washed/painted/something), needed to be lighter, in my opinion, to make the room look larger. I also think cabinets that are different colors are kinda... cool. In the picture to the left, the floors aren't finished (and neither is the bottom of the cabinets because I didn't want to waste time painting something that could be damaged by the floors being refinished) but the color of the wood definitely compliments the room. Super excited about that! I still need to paint the pantry door. And I accidentally put the handles on the larger cabinets on upside down. It happens!

During this week, I also finalized my decision on the shower door for the new master bathroom. We passed the framing inspection and I made a final decision on the the rest of the paint colors (of which I am NOT painting). I have to say, the new Pottery Barn colors out at Sherwin Williams are pretty awesome. But...I'm staying true to the house and not going way outside the color palate of the period. However, I'm staying away from salmon, which was apparently a thing in 1922. It's not my thing.

Another big step forward...Insulation! Part of the issue of renovating an old home, especially an old attic, is the lack of ceiling vents, and venting through the eves. Neither of these are options in my house,without a lot of expense. A lot of cities will approve alternate means of venting with insulation, pretty much grandfathering these reno's by approving certain types of insulation. I chose Icynene (or rather Mike did, but I did research it before agreeing). These old houses don't have ridge vents either, which means conventional insulation wouldn't be as effective. It was a cost and efficiency decision as well.  When I walked in to the attic/office/master suite...I was amazed. It totally changed the look of the room. Incredible. The knee walls will have batt insulation behind them, since I don't plan on using those spaces as storage. I know a lot of people disagree, but I really feel this house has enough storage. A full basement, nice closets. These cubby holes/spaces will be lost space. But I'm OK with it. It's starting to look like a real room!

I've been told that once inspections are completed, things tend to go quite quickly. And it's true. Inspection on Tuesday, insulation on Wednesday. I have a couple things left on my to do left... I better get cracking!

Day 42 thru 45 - The (now) Infamous Painting Marathon

First, let me say... every time I think of how my friends bailed me out, I get a little emotional. I couldn't have done it without them, and I am deeply humbled that they bailed me out when I needed them the most. I will never be able to repay them. But I hope I can return the favor for each and every one of them, one day. 13 friends, in total, but not all at the same time! It's still a little house!

On Thursday night (day 42), I started to paint in the "sun room". For some reason, the house has seemed really dark. There was faux painting on the walls in both the dining room and the sun room. Not only are all the shades always drawn, it just seemed... small and dark. My co-worker and friend, Darin, came over to help me paint ceilings. Not something that I had really considered, but after discussion, I decided to get on the same page. Boy am I glad I did.

Ceiling mid-roll

The lovely faux wallpaper/paint

Here's the ceiling as we painted it...it's green. GREEN. As were the walls. And I understand that back in the day, you painted the ceilings a shade lighter than the wall color, but GREEN? In a matter of hours, the room lightened up appreciably. 

Finished

Look at the different this ceiling made!

 Painting probably increased the value and look of this house within hours. It went from dark and gloomy to light and "modern", I guess. I stayed neutral in all the rooms. In the sun room, I choose a color called "khaki shade". It made the room look bigger!

I tried to stay in the period, but honestly, the period colors were like.. Salmon and muted oranges.  I just couldn't do it! Just like I could NEVER paint this beautiful wood work.  So here are the colors we painted...2 coats, walls and ceilings, all within 3 full days.  As I said, the rotating crew of friend did an awesome job and allowed me to stay on schedule. Even Mike was shocked. I guess I like a challenge!!

Buh bye annoying leaves

Dining room:
Same faux painting, no stripes. I decided to paint this a muted gray/blue. It's a little more blue than gray, but in the full light, it does look very nice!





Front bedroom: I have no idea what color this room was, to be honest. It's now a nice cream called "steamed milk". (FYI... I warned my friends that they were subject to picture taking!)

Back bedroom: This was gray,and the ceiling was gray. Gray. Drab. Now it's a gray/violet color. Way more purple than I thought it would be, but again, there's no lighting and the blinds are old and down...

And finally, the hallway. I wish I had pictures of the unpainted, rough area on the wall. We all think it was, at one time, where the phone went and then someone plastered it in. OR... there was something really large hanging there and no one bothered to take it down to paint. But Javier and Nathan spent a really long time sanding and patching and making it beautiful. The hall is a light lavender gray. The lighting is bad, of course. But I'm just adding that to the list of things that will be changed, eventually.

Can sort of see the big patch area

Melissa who did a great job cleaning the massive amounts of dust!

Here are some random pictures. We painted close to 900 square feet (if not more) of living space in 3 days. Exhausting days! As everyone left on Sunday afternoon, the house really started to feel like mine. I can't even begin to explain it. I kept thinking "It's just paint on the walls" but even then... it's the beginning. I'm learning the sounds of the house and I like it. It's really comfortable.

Heidi edging and doing a great job!

Days 38 thru 41 - Challenge Laid Down

Time flies when you're as busy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest. And honestly, I feel like I have been beat up several different ways. I'm about 10 days behind on this blog (SORRY!), so I'm going to update this in chunks, because honestly, one big post just won't do it justice.

Day 38, for reference, is Sunday, August 23rd. I feel like it was a month ago, not just a little over 2 weeks. But here's the breakdown.

Day 38:

I finally finished priming the cabinet doors and framing. 2 coats, both sides of the doors. Major progress

I also, with the help of Cody, got some more "trash" out of the attic.  Namely a queen size mattress and box springs. Made me realize that I do NOT want to move my own stuff when the time comes. The attic, while super cool, is not really conducive to moving furniture.

Day 39: 

I had a walk through with Mike. Which just added to my "to do" list. As expected. Remember way back when I said "I don't want to be the homeowner that holds up this project"? Yeah, well. I was about to realize that I was that homeowner. And I was on the verge of pushing back my potential move in date. 

As Mike and I were finalizing things like the window in the bathroom, and the repairs of my closets (where they ran the HVAC, electrical and plumbing), he told me where I stood.

PAINT THE ROOMS ON THE FIRST FLOOR NOW OR YOU'LL BE PAYING RENT IN OCTOBER!

Uh, what?

I believe Mike's exact words were..."If I were running this project 100% (meaning that I am a bit controlling, is how I heard it), I would paint these rooms before the floors are sanded, and have everything moved out of the first floor by middle of next week"

Uh, what the what?! Is that a suggestion or are you telling me what to do?!?!

He wasn't kidding. I did see his point. But talk about panic at the disco. I thought I was making good time. I thought I had the timeline down. I thought I HAD TIME.

I was so wrong. 

So with that in mind, I basically put out an APB on any one willing and able to help me paint the following weekend. Because Wednesday before Labor Day weekend is my official cut off. No ifs, ands or buts.  Talk about a stressful walk through....

Day 40:

I took this evening after work to pick out colors for the marathon painting session on which I was about to embark. I dreaded this. Just absolutely dreaded it. But with the help (and patience) of Cody's wife, Bridget, I made some pretty good decisions (although I'm not completely thrilled now that it's on the walls). I still have to decide on the master suite and master bathroom. But I do have a little time for that because, well, someone else is painting that! That's the upside.

Day 41:

We failed the plumbing inspection but it's fixable and not a huge issue.  But let me tell you... the first time you see that "red tag" that can't leave the premises, you sort of freak out. I freaked out (sorry Mike, I'll make it up to you).

I also found out that the kitchen sink is backing up in to the stationary tub. This is not a good sign. But like everything else, sort of expected and can (for the right price) be fixed. I just haven't gotten that estimate yet.

I finished putting the second coat of paint on the cabinets (I'm not really sure which day I put the first coat on, to be honest... I didn't write that down).

I also cleaned up the hardware (I have no idea if this is original or not, but it cleaned up very well). The hardware looks very "art deco" to me. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, or if it's not original to the house. I like it though!