Splish Splash Prep

Another weekend of dream house joy. This weekend focused on getting things ready for Matt’s arrival. New update, he will be here on Tuesday. So we get to go to work on Monday… Finished building a little sitting stool for the master shower….cute. Should get more frequent use in our later years… ho ho. Yes, we continue to plan ahead. Also did final prep work framing out the master bath tub - even took photos in case we ever need to take the tub out. Finished sheetrocking the master bath ceiling and wall that divides bath tub from shower. Deb pretended to be sitting in the tub. We can’t wait for the day we actually can take a bath … The view from the tub is gonna be great. Can’t wait to see it in all seasons. Also tried our hand at plastering and patching some of the walls in prep for sanding… We wear our dust masks almost all day. The plaster powder is really fine! The walls won’t be “perfect” but we decided we wanted it to be a bit rustic looking…. Not too much and not too little so we hope it does the trick. Exhausted again.

Tile & Pad Prep

A couple more days and another step forward. Deb’s been in Portland for work so I have been on my own working on the house in the evenings. Again, the pics tell it all. Bath/shower window is a little thought we had when we designed the master bath – a window that you can look out while you take a shower and see the trees. Lets in some natural light too. Need window in place before Matt arrives on Monday. Next….. the concrete pad for the front door / entry. Had to frame it in and added some old rebar we had laying around. Might as well use it heh? Not all straight rebar but it serves the same purpose. First time I ever laid out a pad like this.... even calculated/added the outslope for water drainage. I like doing stuff like this - just wish I wasn't always rushed. Kevin will help us pour and maybe stain? Might pour next week. Then can install front door!
Got a call from a long long time friend tonight. Gary Warman. Been a dear friend of mine for over 50 years. One of the “trio.” Long story for another time. Great hearing his voice… again, it was one of those times when it doesn’t matter when the last time was we talked…. It just went on like it was yesterday….. a very good thing.
Goodnight.

Father's Day, Summer Solstice, and "Straw."

In celebration of the summer solstice, we decided to do some painting. Wow. We picked a color called “Straw” for the living area upstairs, and started with the upper section around the picture windows…. We really like it. It seems to work with everything including the masonry heater, the window frames/sills, and the carpet and tile we are planning. What we did not plan on was that is goes great with the underside of the roof “soffets” that are stained cedar, and the TREES! Yes, the green trees even look better when framed with the straw color. So, we are happy. We even think it will go well with the Christmas Tree!
Yesterday was Father’s Day. I had always thought my Dad would get to see this house one day…… I told Debbie that I was going to dedicate all of today’s work to my Dad. He was a tremendously hard worker. I worked from 930 am till 730 pm. Hope he was watching!
Again, the pics tell it all. Busy week ahead again… Mom doctor appts., Debbie in Portland all week, pressure tank to be installed, might order the gutters, will order some cabinets, tile to be delivered, and need to finish framing out bathroom showers….
Hard to believe the days will be getting shorter!

Moving on...

OK. Wings blew it. It's over. Ich! Debbie's mom Nancy arrived last Friday evening! We took her on the tour of the house just before sunset and she was in disbelief of the progress on the house. She loves it too. And sure enough, the next morning she was down there painting - for nearly nine hours!!! That night we needed to go the hospital with my mom and got home around 1130 pm. She is OK - just a "tune-up" at the hospital. Next morning at it again. Another nine hours! Wow! Debbie and Nancy have been painting primer and ceiling paint and I have been prepping the showers with cement board to get ready for Matt's arrival on the 29th. Speaking of that, we have been trying to make final decisions on the tile for the bathrooms and showers and just starting to pick some colors. Mark and crew are essentially done with the plastering... What a difference!!!! And, the boiler and the other hardware for the radiant heat is being installed by Rod. He plans to be done tomorrow. Again, more pics of the progress. Nancy is having lunch with Margaret today. First rain here in 21 days! Supposed to end by sunset today and then nice again. Next is sand the plaster as needed, and more primer painting... Pressure tank coming right after Rod is done. It is non-stop now.

Go Wings!!!

Okay...They didn't win the Cup last night, but they will Friday night! I HATE Game 7's! But I will watch it nonetheless. I will pick mom up in Portland on Friday, drive up to Bow and the 3 of us will watch the game! I'm (Deb) in Salem this week for work - trying to do house items from far away - mostly I'm in the support mode at this point. Remember to watch the game (on NBC) and

GO REDWINGS!!!

Pink!

Time for another update. Although it's only about 4 days since our last post, it seems time for another update. Not too much new that we can show. Yet, we have done quite a bit of work behind the scene and some at the house.... Been looking at tile, carpet and cabinets - and that takes a lot of time! More to follow on that.....

We have been busy painting too. Like the color of our office room? Ha Ha.... it is really not going to be pink but that is the color of the plaster bonder that we are using..... Mark thought best to use it. No harm either way but decided to be safe. Crew will be working this week and try to finish top and bedroom floors... Oh boy. Radiant heat man, Rod was down today and that is taking shape. Also ordered our pressure tank and that will be installed soon as well.

Sunsets and weather have been unbelievable. Sunsets lately have been big yellow, orange, red, red violet balls that just sink out of site!

So, just a few more pics of the place. Decided to not tile all the way up the walls that surround the master bath, so needed to frame out windows to prepare for plaster. It is going to be great. One thing that hit me tonight was the realization of the thickness of our walls! WOW. Now that they have been plastered/stuccoed it sure shows how thick they are. In the photo of the dining area windows it really hit home. All insulation! And, we think it looks really really neat. See, it's fun to go "green," heh?

Plaster on the Range...

Terrrible Title heh? Oh well.

Plaster, Stucco..? Whatever you want to call it, (most people call it plaster when it’s on the inside and stucco when it’s on the outside) the living area is 85% complete! Mark brought a four-man crew yesterday and had at it. We are amazed of the change. Almost no more AAC block to look at…..It is a good thing. In fact, it's wonderful. This really defines our living space and we can’t wait till it is all shaped up and ready to paint. Mark thinks this floor and bedroom floor will be done by end of next week.
Next, we had our stove/range delivered today. Well, it’s OK. Due to building codes we were not able to retro in our Viking Stove that sits in our house in Portland because it is not designed to vent downward and that is what we need. Why? Because we did not want a vent hood that came out of the ceiling that would partially block our view – and overall we thought it would look pretty bad going all the way up into the lofted ceiling…. Expensive too… This is a nice unit. A Jen-Air. But, it just isn’t our Viking that we just loved cooking on in Portland. We liked the style of the Viking better as well. But, so it goes. We’ll see if we can still cook yummy meals. We think it also does not look as good right now and will look much much better when we have the island around it…
All for now. Oh, by the way…… We can not believe the weather…. Hot and dry and clear. Of course it is, last year when we needed it to be dry they were calling it Junuary because of all the rain and cold, and collapsed tarps and complaining contractors (big babies!)….

Painting!

Right after Rachel and Matt left last week, Deb and I spent the next one and one half days texturing every wall in the house we could work on..... except the interior of the exterior walls...

Wow. This past week and weekend, we started painting - sheetrock primer and sealer..... and, even finished the living area ceiling! A total of three coats. We were beat. Plenty of shoulder and neck workout doing ceiling and walls with a roller and power roller. Two friends, Tim and Scott lent us their power rollers which makes a big difference for sure.

Steve in Ohio gave us some invaluable painting advice and away we went. Here's the pics of the painting and a few more of other stuff.....:)

PS my Dad always said that you can tell good painters from bad by the ones who have more paint on them than the walls... needless to say Deb has no paint on her.....