The Dining Room

Alas! We are done painting the dining room! Excluding the kitchen, this is most likely the pinnacle of difficulty in the painting projects for our house. The living room will be tough, but we are going to spray the ceiling (and I was able to get a friend with know-how to spray it in trade for a steak dinner). The dining room has lots of beams, vaulted ceilings, lots of drywall repair, and an entirely new wall (see earlier posts). There used to be a lot of little things in the room that cluttered up the look... there was a long string hanging from the ceiling fan because that was the only way to turn it on or off. The wiring to the fan was in plastic wire mold. There were hooks screwed into various things to hang sticks that are used to open and close the clearstorey windows along the top. There were layers of curtain rods. The lamp was extremely unable to light the room, and it was mounted very off-center from the room (as in, 5 feet off center).

We took all that stuff down. We cut holes in the drywall and routed the ceiling fan wiring inside, and installed a switch down at "switch level" so that we can turn the fan on and off without the string. We removed all the hooks. We removed all the curtain rods. We got a much more brilliant light fixture and installed it in the center of the room.

Now that the baroque clutter look is gone, the room just sparkles! The beams, having nothing on them except the light, look fresh, contemporary, and beautiful. Fresh paint ALWAYS makes a room look better, and this room really needed fresh paint. We went with an accent wall, since we will be hanging some very large format black and white pictures on them, and we felt the red would really make it look elegant.

Still to do: We need to paint the window and door trim. We need to install baseboards, and install the wood paneling that will go up to the height of that ledge. But those are all easily done at a slow pace, while we are using the room.

So, as soon as the paint was dry, we moved the dining room furniture back in from the living room, and also brought in the living room furniture temporarily. The living room is now completely empty. Time to mask it all off for spraying the ceiling!

Painting Ceilings is Hard

'nuff said.

Dust

We figured out why the final sanding of the drywall caused Operation Dining Storm. The hose to the dust collector had about, oh, FIVE POUNDS of drywall dust in it. Quite the clog. We unclogged it and my dust collector starting to suck again (in a good way). We have been vaccuming like crazy. We need to go through this cycle for a couple days until we really got this place cleaned up, then we can start painting.

The Infinite Treadmill of Labor Known as Drywall

I really cannot begin to describe how much work drywalling is. But it is not hard work, just grueling work. Having the right tools, the right partner, the right alcoholic beverages, and Lady Gaga makes it possible to do a bang up job. My Dad and I installed the drywall panels, it took a few days. Jen started mudding and taping. We are currently at the second layer of mud, we will sand it tomorrow and then get to applying that final coat.

Kitchen Cabinet Removal

We had a really pretty set of cabinets over our island. They were well built, convenient, had pretty stained glass doors, and therefore we had to remove them. We kept the stained glass, as we are going to build some book shelves with doors, and those glass panels will be perfect for the doors. Removing the cabinets opened up the kitchen a lot, letting more light in, and allowing people to mill around the island and hold a conversation. Clearly I still have a little bit of work to do cleaning up the transition to the range hood. Details, details.

Yard

Haven't talked about what we did in the yard. The front yard had some spiral willow trees that were sick or dead. One was 60 feet high and ready to fall over at any moment. Using a combination of shovels, muscles, Ford F-250 trucks, tree removal companies, thatchers, aerators, and who knows what else we managed to transform the front yard from a deathtrap (the 60 foot willow would have certainly fallen and killed a very powerful and well connected lawyer) into a very gorgeous yard that shows off the architecture of the house. I areated and thatched the moss patch, Jen worked a truckload of compost into the soil and seeded it, and now we have a lawn again.

Woodshop ACTIVATED!

After a crazy crazy time playing Tetris with my power tools, I have managed to get all of my woodworking equipment into the garage with room for the cars. That's nice because we live in Seattle and it rains from Oct 31 until July 5. All (and I mean ALL) of my heavy equipment is on wheels, and I built a wood rack on wheels as well so that I could just squeeze everything together when not in use. When it's time to Get Dusty, I just pull the cars out of the garage, and I have a ton of space to use the tools. The diagram shows just how dense my garage is.

Checklist Update

* Remove dead, dangerous deathtrap willow trees and invasive laurel bush from front yard - DONE
* Remove all things Juniper from yard - DONE
* Remove all things ugly from front yard that are not junipers - JUST ABOUT THERE
* Aereate, thatch, compsost, re-seed front lawn - DONE
* Build cabinet for new double oven - DONE
* Build cabiner for warming drawer - DONE
* Install mouldings for front door - DONE
* Fir out a couple walls in living room to cover up power wiring and to support a built-in bookshelf - DONE!
* Remove cabinets tha are above the kitchen island - DONE!
* Drywall upstairs war zone - GETTING THERE
* Re-face kitchen cabinets - SAVING UP FOR THIS ONE
* Replace kitchen counters - SAVING UP FOR THIS ONE
* Install Kitchen Floor - SAVING UP FOR THIS ONE
* Fir out and fix up the last unfinished room in the basement - AFTER UPSTAIRS IS DONE (except the things we are saving up for)
* Replace caps on all railing walls - GETTING THERE
* Rebuild entire front yard landscaping - LABOR TREADMILL

Pooped

Workin' on the Entryway and Oven!

A bunch of things all happened at once. My sheet of veneer arrived, so I was able to veneer over the areas where I will be installing my remaining appliances. My parents arrived, so I put my Dad to work immediately. We got the oven installed, the warmer installed, and we finished up the framing work on the wall between the dining and living rooms. We drywalled the entry-way, and then collapsed. Tomorrow... not sure yet, but I will keep busy.

Anyone here?

Time to start blogging again. Jen and I took a long break this summer to live in the house and get a feel for what needs to change. Also, I was waiting *forever* for some permits to pop to allow electrical work to power up my woodshop. But now I have my shop, and there is much rejoicing.

I will post individual entries for what's going on, but here is the quick and dirty list:

* Remove dead, dangerous deathtrap willow trees and invasive laurel bush from front yard - DONE
* Remove all things Juniper from yard - DONE
* Remove all things ugly from front yard that are not junipers - GETTING THERE
* Aereate, thatch, compsost, re-seed front lawn - DONE
* Build cabinet for new double oven - GETTING THERE
* Build cabiner for warming drawer - SOON
* Install mouldings for front door - GETTING THERE
* Fir out a couple walls in living room to cover up power wiring and to support a built-in bookshelf - SOON
* Remove cabinets tha are above the kitchen island - SOON
* Drywall upstairs war zone - KINDA SOON
* Re-face kitchen cabinets - SAVING UP FOR THIS ONE
* Replace kitchen counters - SAVING UP FOR THIS ONE
* Install Kitchen Floor - SAVING UP FOR THIS ONE
* Fir out and fix up the last unfinished room in the basement - AFTER UPSTAIRS IS DONE (except the things we are saving up for)
* Replace caps on all railing walls - GETTING THERE
* Rebuild entire front yard landscaping - LABOR TREADMILL

So much fun!

Star Ceiling

We moved the star ceiling into its new home today. The TV room is all but done now, just need to install the sconces and mount the speakers.

Couches are built, they are staying at the warehouse until we get back.

Of course, we still dont have power in the room because of the electrical complications, but hopefully by the time we get back in town that will be resolved.

Going off the grid for good reason...

Tomorrow we move into the house at last. Of course, the power line from the street to the house is not buried yet. So we cannot get our internet installed until that's done.

Carpets look great. I took some pics and they make it all look like crap, because my point and shoot camera just isn't up to the task. Trust me, they are awesome.

Painting is all we have left...

Thank goodness.

Pics

Okay, okay. Here are pics of various stages.

Glory!

At last, the drywall downstairs is DONE! Jen will be painting on the primer coat today, and if we are lucky, maybe a coat of color before bedtime. Last night I sanded down the final mud coat, and installed some corner moulding in the corners, and caulked them up.

The roofers are pretty much done with the shingles. Now it's time for them to install the rain gutters, new soffit venting, and the replacement skylights. The new roof sure looks good!

Day 3 of drywall

Oh, it felt good to put on that last coat of mud! Had a few splats here and there, Jen ran out of the room screaming (see previous post about "Carrie"). Tonight when I am off work, I will sand down the walls for the last time, then Jen will lovingly give them a sponge bath to remove the dust. Then, tomorrow she can apply the primer and we can start painting. I can also put away my drywall tools until another day (not far off, unfortunately).

The roofers are Roofin' in the Rain. No water in the house, they are good. Jen spent a lot of time cleaning the upstairs area, it looks a lot better.

Moulding

I now know why moulding exists. It's to cover imperfections in drywall work. It's cheap because it is sold in large quantity.

I'm just sayin...

Day 2 of Drywall

Having the right tools is such a blessing. For sanding, I have a random orbital sander hooked up to my massive dust collector. So I was able to sand down the Day 1 mudding pow! Jen and I worked as a well-oiled machine applying the second layer of mud. Tomorrow night we'll sand again. It's actually looking really good!

I also spent about 4 hours cleaning up. With the framing, drywall, and electrical work I did, I had made an insane, insane mess of the basement. Put away all my tools, cleared off the workbench, and got rid of the debris. Now there is room to move around.

Still looking at that ridiculously heavy front door, trying to decide if it's worth $300 to get someone else to install it for me. Leaning towards yes.

I'm So Lucky

I am lucky to be married to Jen for a variety of reasons. But today I especially feel lucky, because she can mud and tape! The last time I tried mudding and taping, it looked like the final scene from "Carrie", except with drywall compound. Jen's work is precise, neat and tidy, and we are going to have gorgeous walls. If she ever decides to give up massage (no!!!!) she can go and do drywall work for a living.

Prioritizations: Front Door trumped by Carpet

Front door arrived today. It's the right size, and that makes me happy. It weighs about 10,000 pounds, and that makes me weary. Think I am going to need to recruit some more muscle. After all the door needs to squeeze into an opening that is only 1/8" larger than the door. This should be interesting.

Of course, I am not going to even start on this project until the house is ready for carpet install. We have about one more room upstairs to paint, and then mudding/taping/painting downstairs. Once that work is done, then we can return to such exciting topics as front doors, lighting fixtures and whatnot.

This weekend is going to be an easier weekend labor-wise for us. We apply the mud, wait 24 hours. Sand. Apply mud. Wait 24 hours. That means lots of time being... ??... human beings!! We will go do some fun stuff with the kids.

And that is a good thing, because we are pretty much run ragged. We have been over at the house every single day working on it since we bought it a month ago. Yes, it's been a month.

Drywall to Wetwall

At last! The drywall panels are installed. That is crazy, I have so much respect for drywallers. Now it is time to mud and tape. Jen is taking the lead on this, as I have proven in past endeavors that I suck at mudding and taping. Once we get M&T done, we are onto painting, and painting is the only thing left before carpet. Woot!

Roof / Power / Home Theater

Jorve Roofing showed up en masse on Thursday. There are roofers all over my roof! I have a roof full of roofers who are roofing at a roofalicious rate! Now you may ask "Dave, isn't it raining up in Seattle?". Or maybe "Dave, what's with the alliteration?"

It rains in Seattle. Roofing companies know how to roof in the rain without getting water in the house. It involves a copious amount of tarps. Plus, I think they doubled the amount of roofers to get each section done faster. I swear there's at least a dozen roofers.

We wont have to dig up the road to get the power line buried. That is awesome. The excavator will do a "road push" where they use technology to push a couple conduits underground from the house to the power pole across the street. One conduit is for the power, the other is for other utilities such as INTERNET. A house is totally useless without that. And don't go talking smack about using Clearwire for internet. Slow and they block video chats. I am going to go for either comcast's xfinity or verizon fios, whichever is faster (or available, I know comcast is).

Drywall work is almost done. The home theater is 3 sheets of drywall away from being closed up. Then I will need to go buy another sheet of plywood and button up the remaining sections of the platform for the back couch row. Gonna use the spiral saw to cut out the openings for the hvac system. Man, I love that tool.

Once that's done, we will start mudding and taping. I expect this blog to become R-Rated, as I will be ranting.

All Drywall, All the Time

Title sums it up. Still drywalling. Spiral Saw is quite possibly the best tool ever invented.

Are you reading this?

If you are, please add a comment to this post. I would like to see how many people are following.

Spiral Saw

So after putting up drywall today, I decided that there *must* be an easier way. There is. It's called a spiral saw, and it's essentially a wimpy router with a bit that looks more like a drill bit. You place the fresh sheet of drywall against the elecrical boxes, and you just trace around the boxes with the bit, which routs out a perfect fitting hole. Ryobi has one for 40 bucks, you can guess what I am buying tomorrow! I may have a post a "I love hanging drywall" post. Rrrrright. No chance of that.

Drywall

Wow, I hate doing drywall. But the outside walls of the home theatre have the drywall hung, now it is tie to do the inside walls. We have a friend who has lots of experience with mudding and taping coming this upcoming weekend, so he gets to do that part. I am just getting the boards on the walls.

Busy Saturday!

So much got done today. I finished up the wiring in the home theatre, installed the rafters for the suspended ceiling people to mount the grid to, and built the platform for the stadium seating tier. Lots and lots of hammering nails, my shoulder is tired. Tomorrow Jen's dad John and I will start hanging drywall, exciting!

Jen and her parents painted more today, they have moved to the next room where they are getting the ceiling looking swell and having a lively discussion about paint colors.

And the concrete people came in to polish the floor. Our old, tired concrete floor has been reborn! It is sooooo smoth and looks so good.

Home Theatre

Wow, lots of wire. Still wiring. More to go. Thank goodness for Fry's they have neat stuff.

Tomorrow the concrete people come to transmogrify my floor into something spectacular.

Various and a delay

I signed a contract to have geothermal heating put in. For those who don't understand how it works, look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_heat_pump

The net result is that we can get rid of the oil burning furnace. We will still use electrcity for the heat pump, but very little. Warm floors in the winter, cool floors in the summer. Joy!

Electrician got home theatre room wired up and City of Bellevue inspected. I spent the evening pulling speaker wire. I bought 200 feet and I need 205 feet. D'oh! So I have 6 of the 7 speaker channels wired, and still need to get the subwoofer in and the hdmi in wall in.

Jen did not paint! Instead, she pulled off baseboard everywhere that the concrete grinder people will be working so they dont have to worry about it. She also helped me unload a pile of drywall from the truck.

I removed the last of the parquet floor tiles from the wood subfloor. Really chewed up the subfloor, so I am having an expert come in to repair it before we get ready to lay down tile in the kitchen.

The home theatre is behind schedule. I need to do more framing, a fan needs to be installed, and I need to wrap up the wiring. Drywall will probably get put up on sunday, but mudding and taping will have to wait until next weeked. This means I had to move the carpet and suspended ceiling installations a week, so move-in is now a week later.

Sunday is a day of rest...

... for someone. Not us.

At 10am I was back at Eastside rentals to rent a machine for pulling up the parquet floor. They had this device that looked like a lawnmover except the business end was a flat blade that vibrated. You dig this blade under the flooring it it pops up like magic.

Now, actually, it does work pretty good, but it is not easy. You are essentially holding the reigns of a wild bull that wants to get away from you and remove more than the floor. It also vibrates the user with a vigor usually reserved for subwoofer cones. I spent 6 hours with this beast of a machine, and even thought I was wearing gloves, I still have blisters on my hands, my muscles ache, and the parquet floor is... gone. Well, almost. There is a small part of the floor that is on plywood subfloor instead of concrete. The machine ate the subfloor like candy, so I had to stop and will hand chisel those peices. Thankfully, it is only about 10 square feet, so I should be able to get it done in an evening.

Once that floor is off, I am essentially DONE with demolition for the initial phase of the remodel. I will still need to remove the front door when the new one comes in, but that is tiny.

Jen, as usual, spent the entire day painting. It's a big house.

The Race is On

T-15 days until the carpet comes in. We need to:

1. Put up drywall, mud and tape, and paint the downstairs area, since carpet goes in there. This is dependant on the electrical getting done, which is supposed to be by thus thursday. I see myself drywalling this upcoming weekend, then painting the next week.
2. Making sure #1 is done!
3. Pulling up all the parquet flooring upstairs. The child labor has run out, as their spring break is over. There is a section where the tiles are glued down with Atlas Brand Super Indestructable Glue, so I am renting a machine today to remove those tiles. This needs to be done by next weekend, as the concrete polishers are coming in.
4. Removing the front door. Needs to be done by next weekend for floor polishers. Will leave it a hole, and once they are done, will install the new door, which is supposed to arrive just in time.
5. Painting upstairs needs to be finished, although Jen is a master painter to the point where I trust her to paint after the carpet is installed.

That's the must-do list. Here are some of the other, wanna-do's:

1. Remove the cabinets above the kitchen island.
2. Install the new cooktop. Dependant on #1 first so I don't accidentally break the cooktop, and also dependant on it ariving.
3. Installing the double ovens. This is dependant on the electircal work upstais being done, and the electrical work in the garage being done so I have my woodworking equipment ready. Pretty skeptical on this.

That is a LOT of work. I think the first list is probably going to take up all the time.

Moving The Shop