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":