Old House

Sorry for the lack up updates here...we've been focusing on fixing up the old house so we can get it rented out asap. But we're almost done over there! Just wrapping up the last stuff. Here is our to do list for the old house:

Kitchen

paint cabinet faces

put up covers on range hood

paint behind fridge (white or putty)

attach handles to lower cabinets

patch holes in upper cabinets

paint backs of upper cabinets (white)

new drawer

cover corner wiring for under cabinet lighting

Dining Room

touch up ceiling paint

Living Room

repaint green

secure chair rail

touch up ceiling paint

french doors

clean out fire place

Sun Room

touch up all paint

take out silly screw in ceiling

Entry

scrub door

window screws covered

Studio

touch up closet door paint (putty)

touch up closet paint (white)

hang curtain rod / curtains

plane door / paint touch up (white)

attach face plates to outlets

Library

paint closet (white)

curtains

touch up ceiling paint

touch up shelving paint

affix shelf panels

attach face plates to outlets

cover cord to built in lights

Hall Bath

paint inside cabinet doors

baseboard cut & install

Master Bedroom

patch closet holes

change light fixture

fix closet slider

seal chips in floor

baseboard cut & install

paint window sills

bathroom door touch up paint

paint waistcoat in bathroom

shower curtain

scrape adhesive off shower walls

shower arm

paint baseboard

paint walls in wc

Everywhere

window screens

touch up paint around door handles

clean

Outdoors

take down white lights in backyard

gather potted plants

fountain

weeding

10 September, 2013

Been a while since I updated here...we've been too busy moving and cleaning and not having internet. But yay! Progress has been progressing. Here are some photos of the current state of affairs. Not exactly "after" pictures, since there's still more finishing to be done. But hey, for two weeks of being in the place we're not doing too bad.

Here's the Jack & Jill bathroom. Notice the amazing new tile! Sooooo cool. Thanks a ton to Mike and Matt.

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This was formerly the "black and watermelon" bedroom. Eventually it will have a travel theme with maps and nautical elements:

Current living room from same view as in a previous post:

Living room, other direction (same view as previous post):

The teal bedroom, kind of a storage area for the moment:

Huge thanks to all the people who have been generously helping us move and clean and work - on both houses! And for feeding us and keeping an eye on the kiddo! Mike, Melinda, Matt, Stacy, Andrew, Hans, Desi, Jen, Joel, Aunt Joan, Elspeth, Leah, John, and others!

23 August, 2013

Got some boxes moved over!

 Just a shot of the loooong living room/dining room.

Tub torn out of the Jack & Jill. Mike and Matt have been putting in lots of hours on this project. Thank you!
We've got our tile picked out and should be moving forward with that next week.

Tools.

This is actually an "after" shot of the ceiling. So, imagine lots of sharp spikes around 1/2" long poking down from all of these ridges. Yeah, that was awesome.

Another after shot of the ceiling. We may smooth it out a bit more via skip trowel method - which would have been impossible before the sanding. By the way, Home Depot has a great tool-rental department.

Here's the kitchen. Having painted all the backs of the (inside) of the cabinets, it feels way cleaner and I can't wait to start moving stuff in!

Living room and entry areas.

Micah after hours of sanding the ceiling. Yeah, that's a black shirt.

Yesterday and today I got the closets (almoooost done) painted. Thanks to Desi, Anna, and Stacy for helping paint or keep Pete out of the paint. The bedrooms are almost ready for final touches like curtains, cleaning the floors, and then moving stuff in!

Did I mention the goal is to be in by the end of the month of August? Gotta get the old house rented asap!

20 August, 2013

Today's "before" pictures are from the bathrooms. First we have just the tub in the "Jack & Jill":

 But rest assured, it has the same lovely sink as the hall bath:

And here's the mauve sinks in the master bath:

The master is certainly not our style, but it is in pretty good condition, so we won't be remodeling for quite some time. However, the Jack & Jill is already under construction! The tub has been ripped out and the funky, pink swirly sink will soon be gone. Can't wait for the "after pictures" of that project!

Speaking of, there are already some afters that need to be photographed. Yesterday another crew of friends came over and lent us their greasy elbows. Thanks to Mike, Matt, Hans, Desi, Toby, and John for your assistance.

We got the bulk of the base painting done. Six or seven gallons of color plus four gallons of primer! We have yet to paint trim, baseboard, doors, closets, accent bits, laundry room, bathrooms, and master bedroom. Pete has been a "great help" with the painting and I have to remember to put him in painting clothes when we go over to the house to work. He doesn't do too much damage when we give him a clean brush and an empty cup.

Today we rented a heavy duty sander with a vacuum attachment to sand down the ceiling texture. Those will be some awesome before and after pictures. The entryway, living room, and one bedroom have been done. The master bedroom is in progress and should be done tonight. The "virtually dustless" claims were not quite accurate, so we might have gotten a different machine or the surface we are working with is just too wacky to work properly. But the results are quite an improvement and worth the cleanup.

I'd like to get the kitchen sanitized and put in the shelf paper tomorrow. Then I can stock some of the shelves with snacks for all the workers...and start moving some stuff in! I'm hoping to start moving lots of boxes in this week. It's a little tricky since I don't have the truck and I can only fit so much in our car and keep an eye on the kiddo while loading and unloading. But I'm clever and I can at least manage something.

Coming up next: ceiling before and after pictures, Jack & Jill remodel progress pictures, and more...

It's official! We closed escrow on Friday and now we can start fixing up our "new" run-down house. Saturday we had a work party and several friends pitched in to help paint. This is a really big house...we still have lots of painting to do! Didn't help that the three bedrooms needed a couple coats of primer!

Thanks to Mike for all of his input and tireless willingness as well as Lowa, Anna, Mariel, Hans, Desi, Matt, Jen, Diane, Melinda, and Heather and the kids. You guys were super-helpful in helping us to hit the ground running.

And now for the exciting "before" pictures of the bedrooms:

First, the black and watermelon colored room:

Next, the peach and white bathroom:

The teal and yellow bedroom (with white spraypainted accents):

Finally, the "almost a cute kid's mural that wasn't finished and was actually ugly":