Kitchen Electrical Work

Photos coming later. Rewired the kitchen yesterday, getting the wires that ran down from the ceiling to the island to instead go under the floor. Non-trivial due to the fact that our house employs similar construction methods to Hoover Dam, but we got lucky. Also lucky because the electrical job we found under the island was incredibly dangerously not to code. Now it is.

Some Catching up to do...

...I I know we need to post more often. We took a bit of a breather in Feb. Jan was building a bookcase, and we finally installed the track lights in the living room so we no longer need to use the existing fixtures that the electrican told us were not very wise to use.

March was Yard Yard Yard. I will get some pics up of the yard before, but here is the yard after, now that we got the dirt into place.

The Living Room

We did a lot to the living room. Biggest thing was getting that ceiling painted. It is made of hay and cement formed into tiles, and it drinks paint like Dracula drinks blood. Since the original room had an overhang, there was a large portion of the ceiling that was not painted. We removed the overhang (approximately 15 minutes after the house was recorded in our name) and have been looking at that unpainted hay and cement ever since.

We paid a guy a steak dinner to spray the ceiling. He had to shoot up to four coats to get the celing to look consistent, but the end result was fab. After he was done, we painted the walls and re-did the moulding around the big windows. We also removed all the blinds from the big windows. Before summer, we will get some sun shades installed, but the removal of everything really cleaned up the look of the room, and during the winter months, we get lots of light in through those windows which helps heep the house warm and bright.

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.