Days 73 and 74 - A Room With a View

Ah, the window. The big window. The big window in the front gable. Can't miss it. Well, we kinda missed it. Without going into the nitty gritty, there was a little switcheroo on the window - you might have seen a different one in earlier posts. As of Friday, the official window is now in and it sure do look purty!

Out with the old ...

In with the new

Byron checking out the view

By the end of the week, Byron and Ervin also finished putting up the shingles on the gable. Also, Julio and some of the other guys put in a retaining wall for the driveway and the back exit from the basement.

And for a little frosting on the cake, Bob sent over some landscaping guys on Saturday morning - they regraded the backyard (which had been quite the mess after all the excavating and construction), spread down some loam, and seeded the whole back and side. Thanks, Bob! Kids have missed having a yard!

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 47-50 - Let there be light

Tuesday was the day after Labor Day, and time for the kids to go back to school - and not a moment too soon! 

They were both pretty nervous, as you can probably tell!

That means 6 hours each day that they will not have to "tolerate" the construction noise and commotion - honestly, they have done very well with it, and all summer, we've tried to keep busy outside of the house.  But from now until this project is completed, they have to be out of the house at 8am each day.

This past week was filled with subs - both the plumber and the electrician were back, finishing up their work before inspections. Green lights all around - also for the framing inspection. HVAC guys were here all week, too, finishing up the ductwork and installing the high velocity system. I'll just mention, yet again (in case I haven't made this clear already) - they have been making a huge mess! Drilling holes in various places around the house, leaving a trail of dust behind them. They have been protecting furniture and sweeping up - but, there is dust everywhere at the end of every day. Ugh.

While the subcontractors were at work inside, Bob's guys put some of the shingles up on the front gable  - we're still waiting for the big windows in the front bedroom.

Byron and Ervin setting up the staging

Loving the Cobblestone shingles with the Monterey Taupe plank

On Thursday, they put the skylight into master bathroom - now, let me just say this was up for debate at one point - a should we/shouldn't we question. I am SOOO glad we did - it looks amazing! It truly lets the light in .... I love it.

Byron cutting it in, with help from Ruben

Our view through the skylight! Reminds me of a Paul Pedulla painting ....

Day 46 - End of summer vacation

So, here we are - Labor Day weekend. Kids go back to school Tuesday. That's it for summer vacation 2013 - and what a summer it has been. You could say we've been "camping" all summer - at home. In the middle of all of this crazy construction, though, we've had some great trips. Each escape gave us a little chance to refuel and take a break from the noise and dust and cramped quarters.

But back to that crazy construction. So much has been done - the house is already completely transformed! We've demoed, dug, framed, plumbed, and wired. We're almost done with siding and HVAC. I think I am starting to see that light at the end of the tunnel, as they say ....

But I didn't see it on Friday. Friday was another tough day for cleanup. We were prepared in the kids' bedroom for the air condition guys:

Took everything off the dressers and covered the beds

Wish I thought about taking down those curtains ...

What we weren't prepared for, though, was the rest of the wall they took down (of course, it had to be done anyway - Friday was a good day to do it as they were already making a mess cutting the vents for the air conditioning). But there's nothing quite like the plaster dust after demoing a wall ...

Just a small piece of wall - where there used to be an arched opening to hallway

This plaster dust was literally all over - along the stair rail, upstairs, you name it

Honestly, the guys had cleaned and swept, and it was in good shape, but the dust just goes everywhere and sticks to the walls and keeps settling. No use whining about it, just gotta roll up the sleeves and start cleaning. Tim really did most of it - I took the kids out of there to give him space to get going, and by the time we got back it was already under control.

It was a productive day, though - back steps from the family room door are well underway, more siding went up on the left side of the house, and most of the flex tubes for the high velocity air conditioning system are in place.

My brother Pete and Carys  in the "nook" in her new room - the A/C tubes remind me of Blue Man Group!

Days 44 and 45 - Siding, cement, and some stress

No one ever said this was going to be a party. And while my enthusiastic posts are certainly genuine, not every day is exciting. Nor is every day easy. The reality is that undertaking a project like this while living in the house - with two kids - is exhausting and patience-testing and downright stressful. It's hard on the kids, who had to adjust to living in a much smaller space and without access to at least half of their toys and clothes. They can't really invite friends over to play. There has definitely been some cabin fever - thankfully, school starts next week! It's hard on Tim, who has all the usual workday stress and would like to come home at the end of the day and just be able to relax - yeah, not so much. Plus, as I have mentioned, he is even more of a neatnik than me (and you know that's saying a lot!).

As for me, well, yeah. I think I'm doing pretty well with it for the most part - I mean, I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity in life to renovate our house. I feel very fortunate to be able to do this project - to have found such a creative, nice architect - we were stuck until we met Brad. Then, to have found a contractor that we could afford, that does such great work - we enjoy working with Bob on a daily basis, he's responsive and cares that we are happy. That's why most days, I honestly am excited about whatever's going on, and feel like there just isn't anything to complain about.

But then there are those other days. And they happen. And this week has been a week of those days. Why? Simply, the gang's all here (and so is the mess they leave behind). The lineup this week: the plumber (cutting holes in floors and walls and ceilings to put in pipes and valves, etc - on all three floors), the electrician (cutting holes in floors and walls and ceilings to put in wires and outlets and cable - on all three floors), the HVAC guys (cutting holes in floors and walls and ceilings to put in vents and ducts - on all three floors INCLUDING the few rooms that we are still living in!. Getting the picture? Plus, the concrete guys were back to pour the cement for the garage floor. Oh, and let's not forget Bob's guys outside - Byron, Ervin, Julio and Reuben are working away outside on siding and windows and doors and steps. Calgon, take me away! So, I guess it's not surprising that both Tim and I were bags of stress last night - there was much to clean up.

But, there has been so much that they have done! The plumbing rough-in is complete, the electrical rough-in is complete, the high velocity air conditioning system is well underway, the garage floor is poured, and the siding is moving along.

New garage floor

More Hardie plank siding delivered - plus, Hardie shingles for the gables!

That staging scares me, but that's how they put on the siding

Back is sided - now with Cobblestone shingles in the gable

Another view of back

To get out of the construction zone yesterday, the kids and I took off with our good friends for the day - we headed out to visit Old Sturbridge Village, a picturesque recreation of a Colonial era village from the early 1800's. A great trip for all of us - nice to see life in a simpler time.

My two and their pals

The HVAC work continues Friday and Saturday, so I am bracing for more cleanup - though we have prepped the area! Plastic and sheets have been draped over beds and counters and furniture. Wish us luck!

Days 41 and 42 - Come on in!

Seems a bit symbolic - right at the point where the work is starting to move inside, we have a new set of steps up to our front door. Kids were so excited to use the new steps!

Starting at the end of last week, and continuing into this week, we have both a plumber and an electrician there, roughing in the new rooms. The electrician is running wire, setting up outlets and switches, and installing overhead lighting. I'll try to get a few pix, but it may not have the dramatic effect of, say, putting up an entire wall in a day.

Last Friday, the plumber put in the shower valve and set up the hookups for the toilet and sinks in the master bath, as well as the washer/dryer in second floor laundry. I had a willing subject, so I did manage to snap a shot of the laundry closet:

Let's hope she's this excited when I ask her to help me wash clothes!

Meanwhile, Byron and Ervin were outside, putting up more siding and window trim - here's the view from the back:

Day 39 - In the window

Today, Byron and Erbin finished putting the Hardie plank siding in the front part of the "old" house - in fact, they were done by around 10am:

Time to move on to the windows! Erbin was up on the ladder in back, putting in the first window before noon:

Back of master bedroom

By the time we got back at the end of the day, they had put in all four windows in the master suite:

Nolan in front of the corner pair of windows in the master bedroom

Carys in front of same windows inside

Day 1

Off comes the siding!

Hey! A skylight! Down comes the garage ....

Garage roof almost off .... done for the day