Hello....is this thing on?

Greeting fellow DIY folks, parents, friends and wealthy admirers. It's been some time since I've done a proper blog post and since I actually get people asking what we've been up to (I know...I'm shocked too) I decided to just put it all out there. Online. To strangers. Like Chatroulette.

Ever since Parker came into the fold here on 13th street, projects have slowed to say the least. What would have been 2 weekends of 8 hours days now takes 6+ months, as evidenced by our work on Parker's playroom/guest bedroom/bass gear storage. In my previous post I laid out what was going to happen, and since then work kept going at a snail's pace, but like the Ice Age...slow movement is still pretty big.

In the past 2 months I completed the electrical (with an eye popping SEVEN outlets in there) as well as the rest of the framing and general to-dos. Our drywall guy and his crew squeezed us in between some actually profitable jobs just about 10 days ago, and they wrapped up the painting last week. I've included some progress pics of the the drywalling as well as the final closet I built along with the look of the bays since we decided to cover up (NOT REMOVE) the old wood trim at the bottom for a cleaner look. IF we don't like it I can remove the three pieces of drywall and all is well.

Note the "H" design of the closet with the left and right "flairs": the top is for a TV and whatnot with power and cable, and the bottom is a traditional closet space. The left side is square in the closet but hide the radiator pipes, while the right side is open in the closet for shelves and additional storage. We LOVE symmetry around here.

The pic to the left here shows how this front room connects to the rest of the house via the main hallway on the second floor, but also to Parker's current nursery, thus creating a 200 sq ft suite for a 15 month old. ....Yeah. This is about 48 hours old now, and the door on the right is gone and undergoing some TLC and I have created and installed the jambs for both this doorway and the lower closet.

View of the bay with the filthy screens.

What I'm doing right now is wrapping up the rest of the trim which I hope will b done net weekend if I can get a hold of Tague Lumber and get a delivery of some door casing. We'll see about that. In any case, I'm sanding/priming/painting the door between this room and Parker's room and Christina is taking care of the old bay window trim. I'm running baseboards tomorrow in between racks of ribs and beers.

Parker Approved!

Shopping

So now that there is magical progress everyday, it is time for me to quit changing my mind and actually order all the fixtures, new mirror, and Bryan's toilet! There were 2 requests he made for this whole remodel, first that the shower have an "old time" feel with an exposed connection from the handles to the faucet, and second that the toilet have a dual flush button on the top, not a lever.

The picture above is the toilet we have ordered, and you can see the sink (just the sink, not the storage or faucet) as well.

We have all the pieces on the way and they should start arriving this week to Bryan's office. I think that he is going to have to bribe the guys in his mail room, since these boxes are not going to be small!

Day Three

For once, it's me...Bryan. So I have been telling people, 'Yeah, I mean I'm sure we'll take pictures everyday, but really I'm sure we'll just update weekly'. Right. So it seems that Christina and I enjoy racing home after work and running up stairs to see what has happened during our torment at our respective offices. This has lead to Christina's blog addiction becoming ever so fun to watch.

Anyway, today the fellas tweaked some things that we found last night and framed the closet. This new closet will make THREE for the entire house. The guys also framed in all of our built in storage spaces, but that's too much fun to show.

Also, Christina wants to show off the edge that makes the bathroom (tub) open to the stairs. In time that will be a wall of some sort, but I haven't been told yet, so I don't need to know at this point.


Also in the post are just a few elevation drawings for the contractor and because I don't understand 'archi-speak' and need pretty pictures. I poo-pooed posting then entire drawing set, because I know EVERYONE is going to STEAL our ideas. You're all sneaky. For all you architects out there if you are curious about the plans, let us know and we can email them. There are also some 3D renderings that will probably make their way onto the blog when there aren't as many fun new pictures to post! (Ed: That was the boss, not me)

And They Returned!

So they came back, even with the heat! This picture shows the new framing for the bathroom, the shower is the square in the middle. I think they plan to get the framing done this week, and the electrical and plumbing done next week. The new windows should show up the end of next week as well. The other picture starts to show the slope of the ceiling with the new joists. It is absolutely amazing to have stuff magically get done while we are at work!

Day One

So I realize the picture isn't terribly exciting, but it was the first days progress, and it needed to be celebrated! This just shows the small area where there is new sub-floor for the bathroom, and a pile of tools in the corner. I should also mention that without any power on the 3rd floor, and record heat temperatures, I think the actual temp was 99 today, I was surprised they showed up at all. We did have a few extra Gatorade bottles throughout the house....but check back often now that we aren't the only ones doing the work!