Okay, so maybe it's not magic...but it is exciting! Today is the day that the carpet gets rolled in and installed.
Tuesday's vinyl (thanks for the spelling correction, Dad - that just wasn't a word that came up too often in my all liberal arts education!) was installed beautifully, and already it makes a world of difference. Things are already getting stored in the pantry. The downstairs bathroom looks like a bathroom. The upstairs bathroom is finished (but needs a little paint-touch up from where I insisted the shower curtain should come up a little higher). Andrew fixed the couch on Tuesday night, so there's a couch magnificently stuck in our basement forever.
So - tonight it starts! Time to move back in, and start putting holes in the walls for artwork and hardware.
Here's my plan for each room -
Entry way:
Hang mirror
Hang hooks below
Set up bench and a couple of throw pillows for a mock hall tree
Pantry:
Put together shelves for all extra dishes, extra food, tools, and crafts.
All other stuff (holiday decorations, toys, children's books for our unborn child) goes in the closet off of the bedroom area.
Hang curtain
*Buy/make more shelves
Bathroom:
Hang all hardware
Hang picture
Straighten shelf
Bring down towels
*Get a shelving unit for inside closet
Family room:
Put together table and bring down chairs (extra chairs in closet off the bedroom area). Contstruct shelf in the family room closet and put away games.
Put rolling rack in family room closet. Move extra coats from upstairs closet to rack.
Bring bookshelves downstairs and set up along exterior wall.
Hook up stereo, organize CDs, set up DVDs.
Construct TV stand and hook up TV.
Find suitable side tables from our collection of small tables - donate a couple that are no longer in use.
Bring downstairs rocking chair, re-cover couch, add new throw pillows (yay!).
Hang up framed poster that used to be in living room and framed art from our current study.
Hang curtains.
Bedroom:
Hang posters that we recently had framed.
Put up curtain rod and curtains over egress window.
Put up room divider rod and canvas curtains.
Install curtain hook thing.
Set up bed
Hang headboard
I'm sure there's a ton of stuff I'm forgetting about (the attic is PACKED!), but we clearly have a lot of moving in yet to do. Also in this process, we're working on making a to-do list for our contractor of any minor stuff that hasn't happened yet.
The next couple of days/weeks will fly as we get settled in. So, so happy to be nearly done with this and start using the extra space.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Light at the End of the Staircase
Since the basement project has been going on since April, we've started to notice that friends and family have been asking more often, "So, do you have a date for when everything will be finished?" Finally, the answer is a tentative yes.
This week, we had drywall mania going on. The pantry was finished, the ceiling went in for the bathroom, and upstairs, the ceiling went in for the bathroom. Yupp, that's right - after waffling back and forth (trying to figure out if we were still waaaay ahead on budget), we decided to let our upstairs become part of the construction, too.
The bathroom has been an interesting side project. At first, we were surprised to find out that the plaster had been drywalled over, so there was a gap from where the drywall ended and the plaster began that had been disguised by the drop ceiling. I'd been wanting to try a "banded ceiling" (not sure that's the correct name) effect, which I'd learned about in my Frank Lloyd Wright/Prairie Style Interior Design class at our Art Musuem a few months back, were the paint color only extends partially up the wall and then the top of the wall plus ceiling are painted with a second color. So, I suggested we do this, and then our contractor said he could use some trim to cover the gap. Excellent! However, when the trim went in, our contractor discovered that half the walls were drywall, and the other half were plaster, meaning there was only the gap on half of the walls. Brilliant. With some quick thinking, our contractor put a small piece of wood behind the trim on the gap walls and plain trim on the plaster ones. It looks fantastic. I couldn't be happier with how the project turned out. The bathroom finally fits the look of the rest of the main floor. Unfortunately, we still have the awful builder-basic medicine cabinet, but that's something that we replace as a weekend project sometime this fall or winter.
Never again, however, will I make the decision to have all bathrooms in a house under construction. In the stairwell between our kitchen and attic, we've had an interesting matrix of drying-out shower curtains, depending on which shower is rendered open. On a day that our friends visited from Texas, unfortunately, I got my timing off and ended up with no shower at all. Fun times!
In the midst of drywall mania, we also ended up with cat mania. Morty and Elmo, our two indoor-only cats, have been relatively chill about their home invasion. Our kitchen has a swinging door that they haven't figured out how to nudge open, and we closed the pass-through between the dining room and kitchen with canvas. During the first days of construction, we closed the kitties off in the guest room, but we noticed that a) they didn't seem stressed and slept through all the noise and b) they couldn't get through the barrier of the canvas/door. So, they've had the roam of the upstairs. When the construction on the bathroom began, our contractor simply reminded the crew to not let the cats out, and everything was fine.
That was, until yesterday. I got a call from Andrew, and the first thing he said was "Where are you? You have to come home now." My heart sank. Our contractor had walked outside and saw Elmo by his SUV. When he approached Elmo, even though Elmo knows our contractor, Elmo was scared and bolted. Our contractor, being an animal lover himself and knowing how we feel about our cats (for the love of God, we built a "litter closet" into our plans), did the right thing and dialed Andrew immediately.
Apparently, the back door had been propped open as it often is when they're carrying things in and out, and Elmo sneaked out of the main floor with the drywaller when he'd finished the upstairs. Since both of our cats have been pretty oblivious for the last couple of months, and because Elmo is a bit of a scaredy-cat, we figure he must have stood at the door for awhile before taking those first few cautious steps outside.
When I got home, I heard Andrew calling for our contractor to help him open our neighbor's fence. Right as I had been pulling up to our house, our contractor spotted Elmo crouched underneath the deck, and Andrew reached in to get him. Elmo was pretty freaked out - he had some nice cobwebs stuck to his whiskers, was howling loudly, and had apparently eaten some grass, since he yakked it up the second he was inside. We gave him a good brushing and some flea medicine just in case, and everything was good to go.
Today, our contractor is finishing up with some trim downstairs, and then the weekend becomes a marathon of painting. The new drywall needs to be primed and painted, the old drywall gets a second coat, trim touched up, and then...yes, then...it's time for carpet and vynol! The vynol flooring for the pantry and bathroom will go in first, on Tuesday (and maybe Wednesday, depending on how long it takes for the stairs), and then Thursday is carpet day.
Yesterday, I took a vacation day and spent most of it shopping. I got some great deals at Target and Tuesday Morning for curtains, curtain rods, bathroom accessory stuff, and a few cute furnishings - all on clearance, of course. In terms of "new stuff," it's slightly pathetic how little stuff we're buying when you think about the amount of finished space we're adding. There is a lot in that attic, and a lot of stuff still downstairs that is covered by tarps. But so far, we've purchased a new TV stand, some shelving, bathroom hardware, some decorative hooks for a mock-hall tree bench, a couple of throw pillows, a matching vase (it was too cute to pass up, and about 75% off in clearance- yes!), window treatments, framed a few posters...and that's about it. The only thing yet to purchase is a cheapie coffee table (I think this will be another Target purchase). I'd also love to get a nicer bookshelf for upstairs and move our upstairs one to the downstairs, but that will likely have to wait until fall or winter as well. The other item which I suppose counts on this list is figuring out a solution for the legs that we sawed off the sofa, but that's just lumber.
Technically, construction is due to finish by Friday of this coming week. But how long will it be until this space is put together how we want it? Our yearly gathering of friends and family potluck/grill party is August 6...so I'm thinking sometime in the early afternoon, I'll have to call it finished...for now.
While I realize this is a very, very long blog post, I'm adding a quick side-topic. Despite the fact that our kitchen has been closed off/avoided for the last couple of months, Andrew and I have begun trying our hand at becoming "locavores" - or at least making a conscious effort to eat locally and support local farmers. Our Farmer's Market makes this incredibly easy (actually, in our area, there is a farmer's market somewhere virtually every day of the week. Awesome!).
I'm incredibly excited about this week's menu. All locally grown/raised:
*Lavender pasta with portabellas and garlic scapes. Lettuce/arugula from our own garden.
*Chicken with peas and potatoes
*Bison filet with mashed turnips
*Chicken and broccoli
*5 flavor pasta salad (I can't remember all - beet, garlic, pepper..some other stuff?) with tomatoes, wheat bread
Also - in my garden, while the squash have completely taken over (whoops...had no idea they'd be so HUGE!), the blossoms have been turning into vegetables, and I practically skip to the corner of our yard to check out the progress. I absolutely hate dirt, bugs, and the smell of weeds, but gardening our own food is such an incredible feeling.
This week, we had drywall mania going on. The pantry was finished, the ceiling went in for the bathroom, and upstairs, the ceiling went in for the bathroom. Yupp, that's right - after waffling back and forth (trying to figure out if we were still waaaay ahead on budget), we decided to let our upstairs become part of the construction, too.
The bathroom has been an interesting side project. At first, we were surprised to find out that the plaster had been drywalled over, so there was a gap from where the drywall ended and the plaster began that had been disguised by the drop ceiling. I'd been wanting to try a "banded ceiling" (not sure that's the correct name) effect, which I'd learned about in my Frank Lloyd Wright/Prairie Style Interior Design class at our Art Musuem a few months back, were the paint color only extends partially up the wall and then the top of the wall plus ceiling are painted with a second color. So, I suggested we do this, and then our contractor said he could use some trim to cover the gap. Excellent! However, when the trim went in, our contractor discovered that half the walls were drywall, and the other half were plaster, meaning there was only the gap on half of the walls. Brilliant. With some quick thinking, our contractor put a small piece of wood behind the trim on the gap walls and plain trim on the plaster ones. It looks fantastic. I couldn't be happier with how the project turned out. The bathroom finally fits the look of the rest of the main floor. Unfortunately, we still have the awful builder-basic medicine cabinet, but that's something that we replace as a weekend project sometime this fall or winter.
Never again, however, will I make the decision to have all bathrooms in a house under construction. In the stairwell between our kitchen and attic, we've had an interesting matrix of drying-out shower curtains, depending on which shower is rendered open. On a day that our friends visited from Texas, unfortunately, I got my timing off and ended up with no shower at all. Fun times!
In the midst of drywall mania, we also ended up with cat mania. Morty and Elmo, our two indoor-only cats, have been relatively chill about their home invasion. Our kitchen has a swinging door that they haven't figured out how to nudge open, and we closed the pass-through between the dining room and kitchen with canvas. During the first days of construction, we closed the kitties off in the guest room, but we noticed that a) they didn't seem stressed and slept through all the noise and b) they couldn't get through the barrier of the canvas/door. So, they've had the roam of the upstairs. When the construction on the bathroom began, our contractor simply reminded the crew to not let the cats out, and everything was fine.
That was, until yesterday. I got a call from Andrew, and the first thing he said was "Where are you? You have to come home now." My heart sank. Our contractor had walked outside and saw Elmo by his SUV. When he approached Elmo, even though Elmo knows our contractor, Elmo was scared and bolted. Our contractor, being an animal lover himself and knowing how we feel about our cats (for the love of God, we built a "litter closet" into our plans), did the right thing and dialed Andrew immediately.
Apparently, the back door had been propped open as it often is when they're carrying things in and out, and Elmo sneaked out of the main floor with the drywaller when he'd finished the upstairs. Since both of our cats have been pretty oblivious for the last couple of months, and because Elmo is a bit of a scaredy-cat, we figure he must have stood at the door for awhile before taking those first few cautious steps outside.
When I got home, I heard Andrew calling for our contractor to help him open our neighbor's fence. Right as I had been pulling up to our house, our contractor spotted Elmo crouched underneath the deck, and Andrew reached in to get him. Elmo was pretty freaked out - he had some nice cobwebs stuck to his whiskers, was howling loudly, and had apparently eaten some grass, since he yakked it up the second he was inside. We gave him a good brushing and some flea medicine just in case, and everything was good to go.
Today, our contractor is finishing up with some trim downstairs, and then the weekend becomes a marathon of painting. The new drywall needs to be primed and painted, the old drywall gets a second coat, trim touched up, and then...yes, then...it's time for carpet and vynol! The vynol flooring for the pantry and bathroom will go in first, on Tuesday (and maybe Wednesday, depending on how long it takes for the stairs), and then Thursday is carpet day.
Yesterday, I took a vacation day and spent most of it shopping. I got some great deals at Target and Tuesday Morning for curtains, curtain rods, bathroom accessory stuff, and a few cute furnishings - all on clearance, of course. In terms of "new stuff," it's slightly pathetic how little stuff we're buying when you think about the amount of finished space we're adding. There is a lot in that attic, and a lot of stuff still downstairs that is covered by tarps. But so far, we've purchased a new TV stand, some shelving, bathroom hardware, some decorative hooks for a mock-hall tree bench, a couple of throw pillows, a matching vase (it was too cute to pass up, and about 75% off in clearance- yes!), window treatments, framed a few posters...and that's about it. The only thing yet to purchase is a cheapie coffee table (I think this will be another Target purchase). I'd also love to get a nicer bookshelf for upstairs and move our upstairs one to the downstairs, but that will likely have to wait until fall or winter as well. The other item which I suppose counts on this list is figuring out a solution for the legs that we sawed off the sofa, but that's just lumber.
Technically, construction is due to finish by Friday of this coming week. But how long will it be until this space is put together how we want it? Our yearly gathering of friends and family potluck/grill party is August 6...so I'm thinking sometime in the early afternoon, I'll have to call it finished...for now.
While I realize this is a very, very long blog post, I'm adding a quick side-topic. Despite the fact that our kitchen has been closed off/avoided for the last couple of months, Andrew and I have begun trying our hand at becoming "locavores" - or at least making a conscious effort to eat locally and support local farmers. Our Farmer's Market makes this incredibly easy (actually, in our area, there is a farmer's market somewhere virtually every day of the week. Awesome!).
I'm incredibly excited about this week's menu. All locally grown/raised:
*Lavender pasta with portabellas and garlic scapes. Lettuce/arugula from our own garden.
*Chicken with peas and potatoes
*Bison filet with mashed turnips
*Chicken and broccoli
*5 flavor pasta salad (I can't remember all - beet, garlic, pepper..some other stuff?) with tomatoes, wheat bread
Also - in my garden, while the squash have completely taken over (whoops...had no idea they'd be so HUGE!), the blossoms have been turning into vegetables, and I practically skip to the corner of our yard to check out the progress. I absolutely hate dirt, bugs, and the smell of weeds, but gardening our own food is such an incredible feeling.
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