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!

Days 29 thru...(it feels like FOREVER)... Day 33

To be fair, I took 3 days off to go to a wedding in Minnesota. 3 days in which I didn't think about cabinets, or paint colors, or tile or even vanities. It was glorious...until the guilt kicked in.

I took 3 days away from finishing up those damn cabinets. What the hell was I thinking? But honestly, I was on the verge of burnout. So it was good to get away.

Basically nothing was accomplished on days 29 thru 31. No one, except me, works weekends on the house, therefore, it wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But when I got back into town, well... things escalated quickly.

Day 32 - Cabinets. Have I mentioned how much sweat equity I've put into these damn things? Yeah, well. I thought I could finish the striping on day 32, but no...it's like the cabinets want to keep me as their captive. They're holding on to the last vestiges of paint like they never want to let go. LET GO, I say! PLEASE. No luck on this day.

Day 33 - Tile shopping. Yes, my most favorite thing in the world. Shopping. Please insert sarcasm accordingly. I got the call from Austin saying that I had to finish up ordering the important pieces. What, exactly, are the important pieces? Well, the biggest item was the shower stall and trim. That was easy. I picked out a  36" X 77" shower surround mainly because it was ultimately less expensive. It's HUGE. And I do mean huge. Like, 2 people huge. Yay (single) me! Beyond that, I had only committed to the 60" vanity. Not a damn thing else. I've said it before, it's the homeowner that slows progress down, and I was doing exactly what I had set out NOT to do. I thought I better just go pick out the tile and be done with it. I went to ProSource, and while they have a nice selection, I couldn't find the backsplash tile that I wanted. The tile that I have my heart set on. The tile that I refuse to compromise on. I did, however, walk immediately up to the tile for the master bath floor that I knew I wanted but couldn't actually find. Had that picked out in 3 minutes (only decision was on the size of the tile; 6X24 or 12X24). I ended up walking out of there without an "alternate" choice for the backsplash. And I totally forgot the tile for the main floor bath. Which means another damn trip. I had a bit of a meltdown in the car on the way back to the house (just to check progress and lights out) and decided it would be a good night to probably take a little step back. In the meantime, here's the list of things I still have to order (and in some cases, pick out) and my thoughts.

• Carpet - Master Bedroom - OMG, it's carpet. Someone make this decision for me.
• Tile - Main Floor  Bathroom - white subway tile, grey grout - I forgot to order it!
• Paint - Kitchen, Main floor bath, Master bath, bedroom - Eh...come ON. Why is this so HARD. Why can't the color fairy come to my house or whisper in my ear "pick this". I know my mom's a retired art teacher, but I can't match socks. This is STRESSFUL!!!
• Plumbing fixtures - both bathrooms - obviously this is important. But the toilets I want don't fit my budget. The faucets I want are also expensive. OH, I have to pick out another damn shower trim set? Great. I'll pick this out when prices meet my princess requirements.
• Ceiling Fan - Master bedroom - OMG, they gave me an easy one! I CAN DO THIS!!!
• Ceiling light - Master bathroom - The differences between what I think I want, what I can afford and what is "in" right now are vast. HUGE differences. But I think I can manage this one.
• Vanity lights - both bathrooms - Again. I think I can stay in budget. I will become "the little reno that could" and my new mantra will be "I think I can stay on budget, I think I can stay on budget". If you're a betting person, and you're reading this.. do NOT take this bet.
• Bathroom window - main floor bath - I will admit that I punted on this one. I gave up. I told Mike to just make this decision. It really wasn't all that important to me as long as it didn't leak, didn't share my guests shower time with the neighbors and didn't ruin the look of the bathroom. I have faith that this was a good item to pass on.
• Main floor bath vanity - I'm back to "it's too expensive, let's think about rehabbing what we have" which is really a pipe dream. I'm going to have to compromise on this one too (and by that, I mean compromise with myself. I can't always get what I want.)

Day 33 ended with the inspections for the electrical and the mechanical being ordered. I also, oddly enough, decided that I wanted a khaki paint in my den. Don't ask. I haven't actually looked at a paint sample yet.

Day 20 - Behind Schedule

Today was the day it sort of hit me in the face...I was slightly behind schedule (me, not the contractors!) and potentially over budget.

Mind you, I was only over on quotes. So I hadn't actually SPENT any money yet. But still. I was bummed. My "caviar tastes on a beer budget" were catching up with me. Drat.

Today was also the day that I met with the electrician for the placement of the outlets and lights in the attic. You can tell a good electrician by the notations he makes on the boards. Weird hieroglyphic like things that only electricians know. So strange.

Anyhow, he liked my ideas for the placement of outlets/switches. And we agreed on most everything. He thought for sure I was a "can light" kinda girl (I am not) and was pleased when I gave the big negative on can lights. My rationale (which is probably outdated) is that they are hot. And it's an attic. I don't need a spot light on my bed. I need to be able to enjoy my space, and soft lighting through strategically placed lamps will suit my purpose. He did, however, give me a little bonus. He placed the switch for the outside light (motion light on the driveway) at the top of the stairs. That way, if I was concerned about anything outside, I could turn the light on while still upstairs. I thought that was pretty cool. So I like John. 

I'm going to have almost 10 foot ceilings at the tallest point, where the collar ties will be placed. So I'm putting in a ceiling fan. I still have to decide on my lights in the bathroom, although I'm pretty sure I've made that (overpriced) decision.

Feeling rather good about things, I should have known it would be short lived. The plumber was ready to rough in the shower, but...he was waiting on an inspection at another location. I thought I had gotten a reprieve from making decisions.  Nope, not so much. It appears that because I've been stalling on the vanity decision, I may have unwittingly delayed the bathroom installation. While that choice was still up in the air, the tile had to be picked out. I got the "get on it" talk. The only saving item was that the plumber was waiting to finish up the other location, but I could potentially be pushing back my own work. Bad homeowner. I'm back on the hunt from a vanity this weekend. Sigh...And floor tile.

I started the sanding of the kitchen cabinets. That's kinda fun and mindless. And tedious. I

"During"

 did impress myself by removing a few layers of paint, made easier by the fact that the previous owners did NOT prep the old surface at all. Only being able to work on these a few hours a night may not be enough to keep up the pace. So I'll probably change tactics this weekend, sand the lower cabinets so that IF the counter tops need to be placed, I'll have that at least sanded and primed. But again... I haven't

Obviously "the before"

even picked out a color. Well, I have, but I haven't made my final decision. It's on the "List".


One step forward, a couple to the side. Nothing backwards just yet. But at least it's just my fault. I can handle being angry with myself!

Day 6 - It's BATHROOM DAY!

During my lunch "hour", I went up to the house in order to walk through the "drawing" of the bathroom upstairs with Mike. 

That's it...that's how we roll in the big O. This fine artist rendering is actually on the wall that separates the current "finished storage space" (per tax records), which will become my "dressing room/retreat" whenever I get to it. The bathroom goes in between the main area and that room, so you have to walk through the bathroom to get to your clothes.  BIG discussion point with Mike. He doesn't like it. I think it's perfect! 

The big X in the upper right hand corner will be my shower, the small x is the stack and chimney which will be boxed in.  The doors aren't exactly what I like, but I feel like it might give me better floor space for the bedroom itself because I lose about 3 feet on the far right for an access door for the plumbing (line that runs up the right side of drawing). I originally wanted them to be inline with each other, giving me some cross breeze, but I think this is a good call. The toilet is, well, you can see it. Based on current dimensions, the vanity could be up to 60 inches. I have to think about that. There will be tile floors, but due to the age of the home and my fear of ruining the ceiling downstairs, the shower will be a very nice curved alcove shower. Tile is too heavy, so nothing super fancy. I plan on having a gray vanity and light gray or cream tile floors and accented yellow walls. That's my plan, subject to change as always.

This meeting also determined the choice of insulation. Icynene will be blown in, which means that I won't lose a lot of head room (have to make space between the roof decking and the dry wall and I was prepared to lose up to 8 inches but now will only lose 3). I also requested a sky light in the bathroom. That's still open for discussion but I think it's a good add-on based on how dark the bathroom may be. Can you say "change order"?

We have progress, folks! More than I expected!