A Summer of Remodeling: June 19-25

Completed Projects Update: Week 4

Our goal for this week is to wrap up the major projects in the house. Mainly we are grouting tile, sealing grout and travertine, painting all of the walls, the counters will be installed, and we will have the carpet professionally cleaned. My big task is to make some purchases (fun!) and pack up all of our stuff (not as fun). David and some of our friends will move our stuff into the house on Saturday!

Then, on Saturday afternoon my parents are coming to town to help us complete the many remaining projects we will have to do. We will work on things like: cleaning cabinets and windows, painting all trim and closets, fixing-up the laundry room, painting garage doors and working on landscape improvements. We are entering the final countdown in the remodeling project and soon enough it will be time to start setting up the nursery!

* re-texture all of the ceilings (from popcorn to a flat finish)

Done!

* remove all linoleum (kitchen and bathrooms)

Done!

* update kitchen
FLOORS
90% complete; need to lay tile under kitchen appliances

COUNTERS
As of Sunday: one side of galley removed; other half to be removed by Wednesday

Monday: David removed the old counter top bar to prep space for new counters!
Wednesday: David and Kevin K. removed the other half of galley's counters and back splash

Kevin K.

Thursday: counters were installed this morning! Wohoo for great progress!

We love the new look! Soon I will get to prepare our first meal in the new space!

Thursday: David painted kitchen back-splash with a mold-proof paint to prep area for stone that we will put up for the back-splash. Stone is yet to be chosen; I will pick up the samples we are looking at on Friday.

David also pulled out the cabinets above stove/oven to allow room for a new shelf to be installed and a microwave with vent. CABINETS
Painting: done and doors have been hung on cabinet frames

Sunday: Home Depot Online no longer carries the cabinet pulls I picked out last week in their store. So I searched online and found the knobs and pulls both for half of HD's price!!! They are ordered and will arrive in a week :) The site I found is PullsDirect and they have great prices!

Friday: we found out today that our cabinet knobs and pulls are on back-order and will not be available until early August... so I guess the discounted price has its cost... but, I like the design well enough to wait it out.

* update bathrooms (refinish walls, replace toilets, fixtures and faucets)
FLOORS
Monday: David removed guest bathroom toilet and all the old removed tile gunk in that area
Tuesday: David finished laying tile in the guest bathroom

Thursday: bathroom tile grouted and carpet tacked down by new tile
FIXTURES
Sunday: I purchased shower rods for the bathrooms

MASTER SHOWER

Sunday: David finished hanging the towel bar in shower and removed supports from the soap dish that is now secure in place

Monday: David grouted the bath/shower
* remove wood paneling in entry and family room
Done!

* re-texture paneled walls
Done!

* freshen the house up with new lighting fixtures
in progress

* paint walls throughout house
Guest Bedroom
friends helped to paint the walls last Saturday
Sunday: David cut in around trim
Baby's Bedroom
Sunday David patched a hole in the wall and started painting the walls :)

from blue to neutral

Monday: David finished applying first coat of paint to wallsFriday: David finished painting baby's bedroom walls.

Dining Room

Sunday: David caulked around trim
Tuesday: David and Nii painted the Dining Room-- the color is a gray-ish blue. I love how it has turned out! And I love that I am finding lots of great fabrics to coordinate with it.
Thursday: Matt P. put chair molding and baseboards back in place on entry wall.

Master Bedroom
Monday: We put up 4 paint samples and choose to go with the same color we are using in the family room & kitchen.

Thursday: Matt P. and David started painting master bedroom
Family Room
Monday: more patching up of the walls to prep for painting
Wednesday: David and Kevin applied the first coat of paint in the family room; the color is looking great!
* paint trim throughout house
Thursday: Matt P. measured and cut all of the baseboards we need to replace after removing old boards to re-texture walls and add tile to kitchen and bathrooms.

* add a privacy fence to the west side of property

no progress; in the meantime we are becoming good buds with the neighbor's dog :)

* clean-up landscaping in front and back yard
no progress

* purchase/make window treatments
Plans

Dining Room: we are purchasing 2" pvc blinds for the windows. I am shopping for fabric to make drapery panels for each window.

Contender for Drapery Panels

Contenders for seat cushions

Family Room: I am looking for a neutral patterned fabric to coordinate/match the kitchen window that I will use to sew drapery panels. We will put up a double rod with sheers too.

The couch will be reupholstered in the future using this fabric:

Contenders for Drapery Panels

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Kitchen: I am looking for a neutral patterned fabric to sew a shade from that will coordinate with the Family Room drapery panels.

Master Bedroom: I have the cream and gold striped drapery panels that I made a couple years ago; I am considering adding a pinch-pleat to them. On Sunday I purchased 2 bronze pinch-pleated panels to flank the drapes I made and some sheers to hang with the drapes. I will purchase a double rod later this week.

the cream/gold panels that I made a couple years ago

Guest Bedroom: I have 2 blue and cream plaid panels; my plan is to split them in half to create 4 panels since this room has 2 windows; my goal is to find and buy 4 blue silk panels to anchor the plaid panels; we will purchase 2" pvc blinds for the windows too.

Baby's Bedroom: I have ordered the fabric for the 2 drapery panels that I will sew. I am shopping for a cream colored roman blind that's black-out lined.
Progress Update
Monday: I went fabric shopping with a friend today and found fabric for the dining room, family room and kitchen windows. I have 4 samples to mull through and hope to make a final decision and order the fabric on Wednesday!

* decorating
Sunday: I purchased a rug for our entry; Pottery Barn is having a sale on rugs and I have had my eye on this one for over a year :)))

Thursday: the rug arrived today and I love it. It is a great addition to the entry hall!
Monday: I found a dining room table!!! I have been looking and looking and looking for a table to seat up to 12 for our dining room. On a whim today I stopped at a store to check out potential chairs for our family room and happened upon a great table. I love the table and put a 24-hour hold on it. Finding this table is an answered prayer! It has a great stain color, nice legs, comes with 3 leaves, 2 additional leg supports, and measures 112 inches long! I was starting to think I would have to wait a long time to find the right table at the right price, but I found it today and its a steal of a deal :) Wohoo!
Tuesday: purchased the table; one of my most favorite purchases ever!!!

* miscellaneous
Monday: reserved a moving van for this weekend!

Tuesday:
* I scheduled our carpet to be re-tacked by the tile and for steam cleaning to occur on Thursday.

* I completed about 50% of the packing today. My friend Jana helped pack china and remove everything from above the cabinets in the kitchen.
Wednesday: I focused on the kitchen today and packed china and stoneware. I broke one thing in the process--luckily it was a cheap glass vase that can be easily replaced.

Thursday: made my fourth trip this week to buy moving boxes... maybe I should have bought more the first time ;) My hope is that the apartment will be 95% packed by this evening!

Friday: I made my 6th and final trip to buy moving boxes today. And, after another tedious day of packing we are all ready for the big move to commence tomorrow morning :)

Saturday: Moving Day!
Although we have finished almost all of the big projects for the house we have lots of work left to complete. Still, we are moving all of our furniture and most of our stuff into the house this weekend to avoid having to do it over July 4th weekend. We will continue working on projects over the next week with the goal of being ready to live in the house and unpack boxes in about a week's time.