Monday, September 20, 2010
Installing Hardwood Floors
So the other bit of news is we are in the process of installing the hardwood floors in the living room, dining room, & the hall way. We only have a little bit left to do & then the floors will be installed. Next is finishing off the trim & then start work on the kitchens
Labor Day Weekend 2010
Hey everyone,
We have a couple of updates. First of all are pictures & videos from our camping trip during Labor Day weekend. We had a blast and were so happy that Ty Heck was able to join us.
While there Josh went on his first snipe hunt. Unfortunately it wasn't a successful hunt, no snipes to be found :) Even though Josh was doing all the right stuff: butt in the air, clucking like a chicken & clacking sticks together. I guess it was a good thing as we forgot to grab a pillowcase for him to catch the snipe in.
Our buddy Ty also made a "Bone-n-Arrow" (as Josh calls it), and taught Josh how to catch a football. Oh, by the way can anyone say NFL? Josh has an amazing spiral & he was using an adult size football. Maybe we have a future professional football player on our hands.
Oh, and Tyler & Ty told Josh that if he could get a bird or a squirrel with his "Bone-n-Arrow" they would buy him a go-cart.
We have a couple of updates. First of all are pictures & videos from our camping trip during Labor Day weekend. We had a blast and were so happy that Ty Heck was able to join us.
While there Josh went on his first snipe hunt. Unfortunately it wasn't a successful hunt, no snipes to be found :) Even though Josh was doing all the right stuff: butt in the air, clucking like a chicken & clacking sticks together. I guess it was a good thing as we forgot to grab a pillowcase for him to catch the snipe in.
Our buddy Ty also made a "Bone-n-Arrow" (as Josh calls it), and taught Josh how to catch a football. Oh, by the way can anyone say NFL? Josh has an amazing spiral & he was using an adult size football. Maybe we have a future professional football player on our hands.
Oh, and Tyler & Ty told Josh that if he could get a bird or a squirrel with his "Bone-n-Arrow" they would buy him a go-cart.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Update
So, since June we have come along on the house. It finally feels like there might be an end in sight.
The kitchen now has pictures and decorations hanging and only awaits cabinets and countertops and then it will be finished. YIPEE.
The dining room has new drywall, is spackled, primed, and painted…and oh yeah now has crown molding, door trim, chair rail, and base board installed.
The living room we decided to leave the old lath and plaster/sheetrock, but Tyler did update the wiring and moved some light fixtures around. The only lights previously were in the dining room and to the far end of the living room. This left the living room in the dark. Now there is a ceiling fan centered in the living room, and a light over the door. Lighting is much better…we can actually see!
Tyler took some fast set drywall mud and skim coated most of the walls in the living room. He then had to sand the walls and float them once more: then a final sand, prime, spackle, and paint. We are bargain shoppers and so when we can’t find what we need on craigslist we search the local Restore and Second Chance stores.
These are two stores that take old house “junk” and offer them for sale to others who are remodeling their houses on a budget. The money is then donated to Habitat for Humanity or to an Alcoholic Rehabilitation Charity.
One day when Tyler and Janis were cruising around town for miscellaneous odds and ends they stopped at Restore and found some crown molding. So they bought it for a killer deal and its now installed in my dining room.
Then while Tyler and I were cruising Restore for valuable treasures we came across chair rail. I had wanted to do a dark brown in the living room as an accent and lighter brown as the main color, but was undecided as to how to go about doing this. When we found the chair rail I knew right away. So, dark on bottom and light on top with the chair rail to separate the two colors. We ended up having enough that we put chair rail in the dinning room too. It is starting to look very elegant.
We also got enough baseboards at Restore to do the living room, dining room, and hall way.
I don’t know if any of you have priced out molding, but it is ridiculously expensive. Tyler has some bits for his saw that look pretty cool, so we went out and bought a couple of sheets of MDF (Medium Density Fiber Board), and made our own molding for the doors and windows.
When we put up the major portion of the door/window trim we had Josh over. He was so excited to help.. Tyler was priming as I was taping and Josh asked Tyler “Can I help paint?” Tyler told him that he would have to wait until he had a chance to find a paint brush. Josh exclaims “I KNOW EXCATLY WHERE ONE IS AT! Its in my craft box, I’ll go get it!” So Josh scampered off in search of his paint brush and comes out with a brush that you use for water colors. He dips the brush in the paint a proceeds to help with the trim.
As he is doing this he notices that Tyler is going outside of the lines. He explains to dad that he is a good artist and maybe he will be one some day too. He also tells Tyler that he can show him how to stay inside the lines. Josh then demonstrates. He says “Dad if you need any help or forget how to stay in the lines, just come and get me and I’ll help you.” We were very proud of Josh, and he stayed inside the lines the entire time.
Ahhh an end is in sight. We are currently priming all of the molding again, and soon the only thing left to do will be kitchen cabinets, the hallway, and flooring…. And the downstairs bathroom… and…
The kitchen now has pictures and decorations hanging and only awaits cabinets and countertops and then it will be finished. YIPEE.
The dining room has new drywall, is spackled, primed, and painted…and oh yeah now has crown molding, door trim, chair rail, and base board installed.
The living room we decided to leave the old lath and plaster/sheetrock, but Tyler did update the wiring and moved some light fixtures around. The only lights previously were in the dining room and to the far end of the living room. This left the living room in the dark. Now there is a ceiling fan centered in the living room, and a light over the door. Lighting is much better…we can actually see!
Tyler took some fast set drywall mud and skim coated most of the walls in the living room. He then had to sand the walls and float them once more: then a final sand, prime, spackle, and paint. We are bargain shoppers and so when we can’t find what we need on craigslist we search the local Restore and Second Chance stores.
These are two stores that take old house “junk” and offer them for sale to others who are remodeling their houses on a budget. The money is then donated to Habitat for Humanity or to an Alcoholic Rehabilitation Charity.
One day when Tyler and Janis were cruising around town for miscellaneous odds and ends they stopped at Restore and found some crown molding. So they bought it for a killer deal and its now installed in my dining room.
Then while Tyler and I were cruising Restore for valuable treasures we came across chair rail. I had wanted to do a dark brown in the living room as an accent and lighter brown as the main color, but was undecided as to how to go about doing this. When we found the chair rail I knew right away. So, dark on bottom and light on top with the chair rail to separate the two colors. We ended up having enough that we put chair rail in the dinning room too. It is starting to look very elegant.
We also got enough baseboards at Restore to do the living room, dining room, and hall way.
I don’t know if any of you have priced out molding, but it is ridiculously expensive. Tyler has some bits for his saw that look pretty cool, so we went out and bought a couple of sheets of MDF (Medium Density Fiber Board), and made our own molding for the doors and windows.
When we put up the major portion of the door/window trim we had Josh over. He was so excited to help.. Tyler was priming as I was taping and Josh asked Tyler “Can I help paint?” Tyler told him that he would have to wait until he had a chance to find a paint brush. Josh exclaims “I KNOW EXCATLY WHERE ONE IS AT! Its in my craft box, I’ll go get it!” So Josh scampered off in search of his paint brush and comes out with a brush that you use for water colors. He dips the brush in the paint a proceeds to help with the trim.
As he is doing this he notices that Tyler is going outside of the lines. He explains to dad that he is a good artist and maybe he will be one some day too. He also tells Tyler that he can show him how to stay inside the lines. Josh then demonstrates. He says “Dad if you need any help or forget how to stay in the lines, just come and get me and I’ll help you.” We were very proud of Josh, and he stayed inside the lines the entire time.
Ahhh an end is in sight. We are currently priming all of the molding again, and soon the only thing left to do will be kitchen cabinets, the hallway, and flooring…. And the downstairs bathroom… and…
Saturday, June 6, 2009
June 2009 Update
June 6, 2009
So, I was so good, got pictures and an update all put together in March, and then of course, as it seems with everything else, I ran out of time and never got back on to post it on our blog.
Well since March tax season is now over, for the most part, and summer is on its way. We have gone camping once, and every weekend that we don’t have Josh we are working on the house. Steve and Janis paid for the sheet rock and hardibacker to finish the kitchen, so we are moving forward on the house. And I am again without a kitchen.
We installed a new window, there was a let down. We had purchased a window the beginning of winter to install in the kitchen. We checked to make sure it was the right color, size, and it slid the correct way. As we went to install it though, the slider is the wrong direction. It goes up and down instead of side to side, so it is a useless window to us currently. Of course we didn’t find this out until after we had a gaping hole in the wall.
So, I was so good, got pictures and an update all put together in March, and then of course, as it seems with everything else, I ran out of time and never got back on to post it on our blog.
Well since March tax season is now over, for the most part, and summer is on its way. We have gone camping once, and every weekend that we don’t have Josh we are working on the house. Steve and Janis paid for the sheet rock and hardibacker to finish the kitchen, so we are moving forward on the house. And I am again without a kitchen.
We installed a new window, there was a let down. We had purchased a window the beginning of winter to install in the kitchen. We checked to make sure it was the right color, size, and it slid the correct way. As we went to install it though, the slider is the wrong direction. It goes up and down instead of side to side, so it is a useless window to us currently. Of course we didn’t find this out until after we had a gaping hole in the wall.
We ran out to Lowes, which felt good as at the time I had been going through a Lowes/Home Depot withdraw. Luckily we found the right size window and it slid the correct way. Were getting ready to pay and then it was brought to Tyler’s attention that we had the Honda Civic. Defiantly not a big enough car for a 4x5 window, so we left Lowes empty handed and went back with the Bronco. The window went in without any further problems.
New Window InstalledThe next project:
Tyler had been debating about taking down the lath and plaster ceiling in the kitchen and replacing it with new sheetrock, or just screwing 1x6 strips of wood and screwing new sheetrock that. He finally made the decision that I knew he would to tear down the lath and plaster ceiling in the kitchen. All of the old insulation that was up in the attic from 1920 is quite black and dirty, and Tyler came out of tear-out black as tar.
After the ceiling was down it was time to put up a new sheetrock ceiling. Tyler and little Ty rented a sheetrock lift and did that while I was at work. They also got seems taped and mudded. The next day was a 16 hour day of sanding for Tyler, a quick skim coat of mud, and then another couple of hours of sanding. When the sanding was completed we spackled, primed, and painted.
The paint for the kitchen is a deep yellow color. I went with a bold bright color because our cabinets are going to be a dark stained wood, and there won’t be much wall showing. To my dismay as I was painting my walls yellow the wet paint looked like Mac & Cheese, except no noodles. It dried darker and wasn’t quite what I expected, but I think the color will look fantastic with my future cabinets. There is just a lot of yellow at this point.
Prime and then Paint
Onward we move:
Hardibacker has been laid, mortar and tiles laid, and then we purchased the grout. Tyler and Ty again did this while I was at work. This project didn’t end up the way Tyler wanted it too. The grout we purchased is called Prism Grout, made by Custom Building Products. This grout had glass beads instead of sand, and is supposed to be more stain resistant and mold resistant then other sanded grouts. It also can be used in smaller joints, is lighter, and cures faster.
Checking out the new Tile (Seems to work just fine)The bag said to come back 30 minutes after floating it. The Tys went back after 20 minutes and it had already set-up too much, so ¾ of the floor didn’t come out at all like Tyler wanted it to. So today Steve and Tyler are upstairs cleaning grout lines and we are going to try it again.
Steve and Tyler hard at workWell, the house is coming along again and maybe someday I will have a finished upstairs. LOL
March Update in June :)
We have still been busy working on the house; unfortunately it has been slow going.
Funds have been tight which has brought the project to almost a complete stop. Tyler has been out of work since right around Christmas time. We expected a slow down because it always does that time of year, but because of the economy it hasn’t come back. Usually Tyler’s short on work for a couple of weeks at most, but this year he gets in a couple of hours every couple of weeks if he is lucky. On the bright side Janis has lots of honey dos and brings home projects for Tyler to work on. He recently has become a Jack-of-all-Trades.
He has been working on anything from cars & trucks to putting up insulation in Janis & Steve’s garage rafters. We are also finally coming out of the shock/depression of Tyler being out of work so long and working on the house with things we have on hand.
Tonight as I type this up Tyler is sanding and mudding the dining room. A couple of weeks ago he put up a dividing wall between the dining and living room. This will give each room more definition and hopefully make it easier to arrange furniture. Tyler also tired of hearing me complain about not having a functioning kitchen and having no money to go out every night for dinner has built me more temporary counter tops. I even have 1 shelf to help store pots and pans.
Funds have been tight which has brought the project to almost a complete stop. Tyler has been out of work since right around Christmas time. We expected a slow down because it always does that time of year, but because of the economy it hasn’t come back. Usually Tyler’s short on work for a couple of weeks at most, but this year he gets in a couple of hours every couple of weeks if he is lucky. On the bright side Janis has lots of honey dos and brings home projects for Tyler to work on. He recently has become a Jack-of-all-Trades.
He has been working on anything from cars & trucks to putting up insulation in Janis & Steve’s garage rafters. We are also finally coming out of the shock/depression of Tyler being out of work so long and working on the house with things we have on hand.
Tonight as I type this up Tyler is sanding and mudding the dining room. A couple of weeks ago he put up a dividing wall between the dining and living room. This will give each room more definition and hopefully make it easier to arrange furniture. Tyler also tired of hearing me complain about not having a functioning kitchen and having no money to go out every night for dinner has built me more temporary counter tops. I even have 1 shelf to help store pots and pans.
New Wall Going Up
Tyler also got the dishwasher up and running. So far I love it. It is super quite does a good job of cleaning and looks pretty. J A feature I am excited about is that the buttons are up on the top of the door instead of the front of the door. This will help keep future little hands from pushing random buttons. To turn the dishwasher on you have to open the door, push the buttons and then close the door. That is all that has been going on with the house recently.
While Tyler has been busy with honey dos I have been busy working at an accountant/financial planners’ office, so have been busy with the tax season. Accounting seems to be the one area that hasn’t been impacted negatively by the economy. Most everyone needs taxes done, and with all the lay-offs and stock market’s downward slide they have taken money from their retirement plans. Of course even if these people have had 10% withheld from the early withdraws they are still getting hit with owing the government. Many people who normally don’t use an accountant have come to us in hopes of us finding tax breaks they didn’t realize they qualified for, and also a chance to get the stimulus check, that the government isn’t issuing.
It also has surprised me at the number of people who have come in thinking they are getting another stimulus check, because the stimulus bill was passed. This bill has nothing to do with handing out free money to the public and those in need, but helping line the pockets of the politicians and their friends. So far their will not be any checks issued to the general public. We may see fewer taxes withheld from our paychecks though, as long as you’re a W-2 wage earner.
It also surprises me that the government isn’t doing more to help small business and entrepreneurs, seeing as how so many have been laid off and will try to start a new business. Self employed already pay a disproportionate amount in taxes as punishment for pursuing the American dream. Anyway, I am rambling now, so let’s move to more pleasant areas of conversation.
Working in an accountant’s office reminds me of a hurricane. At the beginning of the season you get people rushing in to have their taxes done because they know they are getting a refund and need the money. Then there is the “eye of the storm” a couple of weeks that we don’t have back to back appointments. And now the storm is starting again. All the people that are dragging their feet because they know they owe.
We only have 27 more days until April 15th.
Other Activities
A couple of weekends ago Janis took Tyler, Josh, and me up to Bogus skiing. It was Josh’s first time and more-or-less mine too. Josh, I am ashamed to say, did much better then I did. I fell more then I skied. But we had fun, and I ended up with some pretty cool bruises.
Josh and I went down the bunny hill quite a few times, and then I went on the coach lift once I figured out the basics. I went down to the right a few times, and then it started getting crowded with kids. Being as I am not able to stop on demand, unless I throw myself to the ground I opted to take the harder “evil” route to the left. I never did make it down that side without falling most of the way down.
Josh after a few more rounds on the bunny hill decided to try the coach lift too. He took the slope to the right, let go of Mema on accident and “snowplowed” all the way down, while doing the “airplane.” The “airplane” is sticking your arms/elbows out and turn like an airplane. Tyler says it looks like he is doing “the funky chicken” all the way down the slope. After that he was doing it all on his own the rest of the afternoon.
After the crowds had cleared a little I tried the slope to the right of the coach lift, and was able to make it down without falling until Janis asked me how I was doing. I then promptly took her down with me. I think that is the first time she has fallen on the coach lift slopes in a long, long time.
We skied from about 11:30 am to 5:30 pm with a short lunch break in between. As we were leaving Josh was begging to come back tomorrow, next weekend, and the weekend after that. He also asked if we could do it this summer.
My ski injury (Isn't it lovely) Last Friday Josh went up with Mema and Dawn to Bogus. I am told he had a good time and did well.
Anyhow that’s all I can think of right now, pretty boring I know. We live such exciting lives, now you know why I only blog a couple of times a year.
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