Rolling Along

The upstairs landing painting is finished and it is exquisite!! I'll post photos next week when we get back from Marina's GRADUATION from Prescott College (while celebrating Ethan's 21ST BIRTHDAY).

Today's news was multitudinous and exciting: Countertops will be installed Friday, then early next week will be the ductwork and prep for installing the furnace. The heater closet will get finished, as well as the gas and electric.

Then (trying not to count our chickens), if all goes well we might have the drywall and patching done by the end of the week, as well as finishing the electric in the kitchen, which would have everything ready for the last round of painting around the 12th. Flooring could start before the end of that week.

If and if and if ... it all could be done before Strawberry on the 22nd.

We're Doing Our Part for America

The Wells Fargo Wagon comes down our street on a daily basis lately.

Under the Rug

I was always curious about what we would find when the carpets were pulled up.

Ethan's floor, original 1920's I believe, with a nice big plywood patch from a more recent era:

Marina's room, a more recent add-on was modern plywood:

Heater Closet Day 3

Not much new on the closet, but the platform went in, and stuff progresses. I'm a little worried about what the door on the family room side will look like. Cam asked if we wanted it to match the doors, and we asked, which one? We counted about 6 different door styles in that area! We asked to have it be simple and unobtrusive.

Heater Closet Goes Up - 2nd Day

Just a couple 2 by 4s and we have an actual closet. Of course it's 80 degrees out, and suddenly the idea of forced air heat doesn't feel like the driving force it was last January when this whole thing started.

As a person of very limited hands-on skills, I am quite amazed at every little piece of building that happens around here. I remember talking to a neighbor who had bought an old camper that had a crushed in back corner. He was complete re-creating the back end of the camper with sheet metal and I don't know whatall. When I expressed my amazement he said, "It's just made stuff. So I can make it too," and had no inkling that this was a bit of magic from my perspective.

I've always wanted to learn how to frame something. But I hate using tools.

View from inside Ethan's room:

View from the family room:

Heat Wave

We cheerfully said goodbye to our awful gas wall heater in the family room, and now the closet in Ethan's room has been divided into two. One will be a smaller closet and the other a small heater closet. Here are the closet demo photos.

The walls came down:

Looking up into the attic:

This used to be an outside wall (before Marina's room was built on) and we discovered the window frame that was there once:

Here's the hole that was left by removing the heater:

Rich, our carpenter, called it "air conditioning for white trash..."

I'm In Love

Yes, the cabinets are as pretty as my fantasy. I just love that warm honey color.

We decided not to go with cabinets up to the ceiling because 1) the kitchen is small, and I think that would make it feel smaller, and 2) that slanted ceiling and beam made it difficult, if not impossible. What you're seeing above is the space for the range with microwave above. The cabinet pulls shipped today, so we'll be seeing those installed soon perhaps.

I am excited about having a pantry with doors. The space above it will be for cookie sheets and trays and such. Not sure what can go above the fridge. It's small, but it should be pretty accessible because the refrigerator will be set back, allowing easier access.

Don't the sage walls look good with the cabinets?

I had a request for another post from my fan, so here you are Beth - thanks for your faithful reading! It's going to slow down I think in the next few weeks as the more boring things get done - carpet & heater removal, new heater closet framing, baseboard installation. But I'll record every minute, don't you worry!