Days 93-97 - The last stroke

They are finished painting. Wait, what? Yep, that's what I said. When we started this week, I thought we'd be in decent shape by week's end, but certainly not done. I was hoping for the end of this next week, when we're scheduled to have the driveway done. Bob clearly lit a fire under someone's behind because after a few really long days of very hard work - they walked out of here on Friday afternoon and took their paint brushes with them. And all of a sudden, I could see all of my house - there were no piles of tools, no buckets, no gallons of paint, no red paper covering the floors, no sheets of plastic dangling in doorways, no clumps of joint compound on the walls.

As in, you can move your stuff in now .....

Just what went down this week? Well, they were working in pretty much every room of our house - except for the kids' bedroom and the bathrooms. Carlos, along with either Lusvi or Leo, was painting the living room, first floor hallway, dining room, kitchen, stairs, and upstairs hallway. Byron was back to do some closets, door hardware, attic steps and other assorted carpentry. Mike the electrician and/or his guys were by to hook up more lighting and finish up some thermostats and other outlets and switches.

Finishing trim around pocket doors

Prepping dining room/ kitchen area (there goes my work space!)

Sanding with the shop vac (much appreciated!)

Byron switching hardware on mudroom door

At this point, it was Thursday - Halloween! - and with a bit of "encouragement" from Bob (ahem), Carlos and Leo worked like crazy all day. They were just cleaning up at the time we were getting ready to take the kids out trick or treating.

Leo cleaning up after Carlos banged out the dining room in a day (notice the new shade of green?!)

A pink kitty and Army guy ready for some candy!

After leaving my house at around 5:30pm Thursday, Carlos was back at 7:30am on Friday to finish it off. And that is exactly what he did!

Happy to be trying out her fancy shoes on the new floors upstairs

Carlos pulling up the paper on the first floor

All cleaned up!

The mudroom, all ready for our stuff!

Gleaming!

Living room/family room

So, what's left? Well ... the exciting (albeit a little daunting) task of moving in! And, punchlist stuff for Bob and the guys - a few things here and there. Plus, Julio will be back to do a new walk to the mudroom before they do the driveway later in the week ....

Stay tuned  .....

Days 81-83 - On the floor

As we inch closer to the finish line, I have to admit that tonight, I feel further away than ever. It's all about perception, and even though everything is built and sealed up and filled in - we have temporarily lost some of the little bit of house we've been clinging to during construction. What's happening is the floors are being done, which means that wherever there are wood floors, we can't be there. Bob's doing the finishing in two phases, so we only have to be out of the house for a few days - he was actually able to do it in a way that we wouldn't have to leave at all, but I decided it would be better to get our physical selves out of this house (and try to preserve what is left of our sanity!).

So tonight, the kids - evicted from their bedroom upstairs - are camping out in the basement. They look pretty cozy, though - kids are the best at turning inconveniences into adventures! Nice of them to remind me of this ...

Some glimpses of the work on the floors:

Sanding machine ready to go in front bedroom

Guys "feathering in" new wood flooring to blend with old in living room

And, while all this is going on inside, looks like some blades of grass are sprouting out back!

Thanks for watering every day, Tim!

Days 75-80 - Taking out the trash

This was a momentous week in the project - the dumpster is gone!

Picking up the last load

That thing has decorated our front yard since June - so nice to see it gone. The guys immediately went to work cleaning up the site, moving out any tools and materials that would no longer be needed. This is a huge step - as you can see from the changes in the front of the house over last week. Between the clean up and finishing the last bits of siding by the garage and mudroom entrance, it no longer looks like a construction site!

Here's the house on Monday

And here it is on Wednesday - all cleaned up!

Starting on Friday, Byron and Ervin were here to start laying down wood flooring upstairs. I love seeing the floors go in - now, it is really looking like a home. The smell of the wood permeates the house, in a good way.

And, all week long, Carlos, Leo and Lusvi continued painting - the colors are going on, and so far so good. As I mentioned, I spent many days stressing over paint color selection, so I've been anxiously awaiting the reality of seeing those colors on the walls.

Pink Cadillac for a pink-loving girl

Days 69 and 70 - Trim and Tile

Many hands on deck starting this week! Byron and Ervin have been working on interior doors, window trim, baseboards, etc. Carlos and Lusvi have been tiling and grouting the mudroom and bathroom. Julio and Reuben have been finishing up the side deck and steps, and pulling up the wood flooring in the 1st floor hall and family room area.

Byron working on trim around laundry closet doors

Carys' bedroom turned into workshop!

Laundry closet w/doors

Campfire?

Old floor stripped, ready for new

Carlos laying down mudroom floor

Sweet!

Corner bench in shower

Days 65-68 - Back on the roof, back underground

It was a really full week ... in addition to all the siding, they finished up that piece of roof that was left uncovered while they rebuilt the chimney. Plus, the gutter guys were out on Thursday, putting in the gutters and downspouts. I honestly never thought about why a house needs them before - but having lived through several torrential rainstorms without them, I now know how important these things are.

Roof done, back to trim - Byron is on it

Gutter guys

Also on Thursday, the garage door was installed;

Garage door delivery - thanks, Puppy!

New garage door in

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the excavator was back - digging out a deeper exit at cellar door in back, as well as digging up part of the driveway to adjust the grade for the garage.

Careful over there! Watch that corner!

The noise from the digger on Saturday was pretty impressive:

And so was the mess ...

Days 63-67 - Sideways

OK, so what's with the long breaks between blog posts lately? I know, I know. Let me just say that last week was totally consumed by paint color selection. This is embarrassingly ridiculous. I have not sweat many of the bigger decisions of this project - and yet, I was completely stressed out by trying to choose interior paint colors. I just don't trust that I have any skills in this area - and even though paint color can always be changed, let's be realistic here. After going through all this work this summer, do we really think I am going to impulsively repaint any of these rooms? Nope.

The good news is ... a) we have finalized our paint colors, and b) we are at the point in this project when they are painting the walls! That is awesome - we appear to be getting really close to wrapping this thing up! But I digress. More on paint and painting later.

Last week, Byron and the guys put the Hardie siding on the kitchen side of the house. This was the second of two "old sides" (the part of the house that did not get renovated). They replaced the trim around the windows, added trim around the corners of the house, and started rebuilding the deck/stairs off the kitchen door.

Hi Byron!

Outside view

Siding is up

Steps in progress

And another shot of the back, showing the completed soffit and siding, tying in the old roof line with the new roof line - well done, guys!

Days 60-62 - On the side

While the plaster is drying inside, Bob's guys have been busy outside the house. Byron and Ervin finished stripping the old shingles off the remaining two sides of the house, and they demoed the old deck and stairs by the kitchen door.

Back, stripped down

Hello, Byron! Replacing the window sill ...

Halfway there

Done!

Here's the before shot of the side:

Watch those steps

No sweat for Byron!

And here they are in the front yard? (on the way to the dumpster!)

Byron and Ervin stripping the shingles

Now this side is ready for the Hardie plank

Meanwhile, they've also been painting all the trim on the exterior, which often means balancing at the top of a very tall ladder while holding a paint brush in one hand ....

Help! No fear of heights here!