Now, we rest

We still need a new garage door, lots of trim still needs to be painted, and the a/c still needs to be fixed. We have to find a new guy for the latter, since the one who was referred to us was given three chances to get our business... but apparently decided we weren't worthy of so much as a phone call. So we move on. All the main projects are completed, and now we're taking a breather and enjoying the fruits of our labor. I will update when we get back to work (and when we find an a/c guy who actually shows up)

My newest batch of before and afters:


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A KITCHEN!

Now that we're living at the house, and dealing with life and unpacking and setting up in addition to the renovations, the pace has changed. We're THIS close to being done though, on most projects, and are left with mainly finish work. The last really huge project was the kitchen, and the last step - the cabinet re-facing - was just finished this past week.

I'm working on pictures of bedrooms, bathrooms, and living areas. Most of the rooms are painted and complete now. Stay tuned for those. In the meantime, I present the new and improved kitchen!


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We have FLOORS

It was a tricky few days, but with the exception of the living room carpet (which is getting installed on Thursday) the house officially has brand-new flooring throughout. We moved in on Saturday, and the tile guy showed up bright and early on Sunday - a day early. He brought a huge crew with him, and they got a gigantic jump on the project. He wasn't able to come on Monday, but he was back again on Tuesday. Alone. He did some work in the bathrooms, flooded the kitchen (twice) with the water line for the ice maker in the fridge, and put the wrong toilet in the second bath. We'd bought new toilets for both baths, and made sure we told him that, but he put the old one back in. After an entire day of work, it looked like he'd barely gotten anything done. On Wednesday, I waited most of the day for him to show up, and he finally called to say he'd gotten stuck at another job and couldn't make it. Thursday he came with one other guy, and things went smoothly until he announced that we were short on tile. Off to the Home Depot we went for another box. They stayed late, till nearly 7, but they got it all finished.

We have the new vanity cabinets in the bathrooms now, one with the granite top and sink. One toilet is new, and one is old. Neither bathroom is painted yet.

We went to Home Depot Friday night to get our kitchen appliances ordered. Just to make things interesting, Mike forgot to measure the fridge, so we had to run back home to do it. Of course, the fridge that's here (and the space that it goes in) is 1/4 of an inch smaller than today's standard refrigerator. So the set that we'd picked out flew out the window, and we had to start all over again. We did find a very nice one that will fit, which of course is more money than we were going to spend. We chose a stove, microwave, and dishwasher to match... and money aside, are VERY happy with what we selected. They'll be delivered and installed on Wednesday, and we're hoping we can have the kitchen painted and ready for them.


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Progress!

This past weekend, past 5 days really, were some of the most exhausting we've spent at the house yet. Finally though, we're seeing some progress!

The boys and I went up on Friday, so we'd be there for the parade of people that would be coming through. Our general contractors were there finishing up some trim work. The guy from the quarry came to do the template for the granite countertops. Directv came to install the satelite line. Our new neighbor from across the street came to talk to us about some stucco work he'd be doing for us.

Our ceilings, which were supposed to be painted, were still only freshly patched and textured. After a few calls back and forth from me to Mike to the contractor, we realized we had a discrepancy. He was sure the contract only said he'd get rid of the popcorn ceilings and do the re-texturing; and we were sure it said he'd completely finish them off, including the painting. Mike got out our copy of the contract after work, and the problem was solved in quick order: it DID say they'd do the painting as well. So they'll come back to do them, and cheerfully so, but not until later this week.

We spent the rest of the weekend painting and laying laminate flooring in all three bedrooms. It was a couple of very late nights (Mike was up till past 1:00 in the morning sawing flooring) but we got it all done. Now we'll at least have a safe haven in the midst of the ongoing work after we move in.

On Tuesday morning, we went to view our granite slab at the quarry, and set up the installation. We're now set for new tile next week, new carpeting on November 9th (which will complete all the flooring for the house), the counters the week of Thanksgiving, and the cabinets the following week. Hopefully between now and the end of November, we can finish up the bathrooms, the painting, and the little details, to turn this thing into a home in time for the holidays.

And for some pictures! I put in some "befores" of the bedrooms too, to see the transformation.


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Quick highlights from 10/15

- We realized that the house is right by a big desert park/mountain, with playgrounds, hiking trails, etc. It'll be fun to explore, and another great selling point when the time comes

- We pulled up the last of the carpet and tack strips

- We got Paxton's roomed completely primed and ready to paint next weekend

- We repaired some flaws in the walls in the bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchen. Almost everything is ready for new paint

- The guy from Sears came to measure for the carpet in the living room

- We met with the tile guy, Luis. He gave us an official quote for the work, and is due to start on the 30th. In a nice surpise, his quote actually came in quite a bit UNDER what we'd budgeted!

- We made 3 more trips to Home Depot, and another trip to Floor and Decor

- We made a lofty goal to have all three bedrooms primed, painted and floored in time for our move-in on October 28

Week Three

Here's a "before" and "after" shot (actually, a before and a "during") of one of my favorite changes that we're making. The first is the master bedroom, the day we first viewed the house, and the second is with the window replaced with the new slider leading to the backyard. Our contractor just put it in this week. He also installed a new front door, re-textured all the ceilings (getting rid of the popcorn stuff), and repaired a wall in the bathroom. We'll be putting in a small patio, leading to the main back patio, and we're also toying with the possibility of eventually turning it into an enclosed patio, or Arizona room, to increase the space for the master bedroom.

For our part, we're still in the demo and shopping mode... But SO close to putting it all together that we can taste it! This weekend, we steamed the wallpaper off the master bedroom, removed the last of the tile and tack strips, and shopped once again. The boys actually stripped the tile in the bathroom themselves, and they all came up in smooth easy pieces... almost like they weren't even glued to anything but each other. We went to Home Depot for the 1000th time, where we're actually starting to make friends with the salespeople. This time we bought all our tile and supplies (and made arrangements to have it delivered), ordered our carpet for the sunken living room, got bathroom vanity cabinets and faucets and toilets, and priced tub and shower surrounds. We decided that the one original feature we will be keeping is the tile in the shower and tubs. It's just a basic, white tile... but once it's cleaned up and re-sealed and grouted in a couple places it'll look as good as new (and much cheaper than any of the alternatives) After a lot of going back and forth, we hammered out all our flooring choices too. The main house, and both bathrooms, are going to be all tile - nice big 18" sand-colored ceramic tile. We're going to re-carpet the sunken living/family room with a neutral carpet. The bedrooms will all be wood laminate.

Now that the demo is just about done, and the big stuff is all ordered and/or bought, next weekend we can start putting Humpty back together again! Our plan for this week (God willing) is to get all the laminate & paint purchased for the bedrooms so we can get those ready to go next weekend. We're still waiting to hear from the tile guy, but hoping he can get in there next week. The weekend after next will hopefully be spent getting the bathrooms together (Our garage is stacked with boxes of vanities, toilets, counters, and fixtures.) Carpet should be in by the end of the month, and the granite and cabinets should be done by mid-November.

It's still coming along! Here are some of the latest pics from this weekend:


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A minor snag

I'm giggling because this is the kind of thing that always happens to us. Yesterday we got a call from the cabinet people, to say that someone could come do the final measure today at 2. Great, no problem, Mike would go up on his lunch break. This morning he noticed that he had two missed calls on his cell, both from our contractor. Everything was going fine, but he wouldn't be able to be there today and just wanted to let us know... because he installed the new front door, and he has the key. Ha. So we have an appointment at 2:00 today, and as of right now, can't get into our own house.