oops - January 19, 2009

How did I forget to mention?

I woke in the night to the sound of dripping. They make fun of me for being a "princess and the pea" but it saved us tonight. The house was leaking or something and I heard the first few drips in my sleep. We ended up taking off some of the wood (building with wood has it's advantages, drywall would have been impossible to remove and save) and looking around. I guess the verdict is that snow came in the roof vent during one of the storms and then melted and ran down the inside of the metal and outside of the vapour barrier. The solution is recontructing the vent for our high wind situation. We'll do that in the summer but it's a bit of a pain.

January 29, 2009

I was stuck at home today because of bad weather. Luckily for Donnie, that meant I was home to prompt him to get going with the kitchen :)

He measured and cut the plywood framing and then Isaac and I helped him assemble them. The island is completely framed and the cooktop installed. When we put the counter top on we'll need to pul out the cooktop for a few minutes but in the meantime we cooked tonight on the new top and it's hot! We only cooked bacon and eggs but it worked! The oven is also installed but we'll test that tomorrow.

We put the countertop in the pantry as well. I didn't pick the pattern - my cousin got it for me for free which makes it perfect- but I like it. It will be much easier to keep clean than the silly plywood. No real food prep goes on in here but Isaac often makes his lunch for school or gets his cereal in the bowl here.

January 27, 2009

We've been in a deep freeze for almost a month I think. The few times it's warmed up a bit it snowed and we've been snowed in. The house progress is at a stand still. Donnie's new plan is to work an hour each day that he is home. That should jump start things.

In the meantime I made a list of what needs to be done inside the house to complete it.

House Projects - Inside

Donnie and Alicia’s bedroom:
shelves in closet
baseboard in closet
trim around closet door
top of wall above closet
trim along dormer ceiling
attach baseboard on long wall
make crawlspace entrance
wall and door into bedroom

Loft:
bookshelf and wall in loft
baseboard in loft
railing around stairs
edge of top stair tread
door on bathroom
attic ladder
attic wall and entrance

Isaac’s bedroom:
door frame
closet door and frame
top shelf in closet
permanent loft railing
trim along dormer ceiling
permanent ladder
loft floor trim
cover ceiling beam
shelves along wall

Bathroom:
plumb shower
install tile
plumb sink
install vanity and sink
plumb tub
finish dry wall
paint
door and window trim

Pantry:
counter top
cabinet trim
inside door trim
install baseboard

Bathroom:
tile trim
permanent inside door trim
finish window trim
cabinet behind door with counter top
vanity under sink
cover around toilet line
soffit to cover vents on ceiling
crack filling around trim at top
handle on door

Entry:
finish wall around closet
closet door
closet rod and shelves
cubbies above hooks
boot shelf below bench
beam trim above den door
replace broken baseboard piece by den door

Kitchen:
framing for island
install cooktop
remove old stove
facework for perimeter cabinets
install oven
drawer hardware
doors
facework for island
drawer hardware
doors
paint and stain woodwork
cut and glue butcher block
plane butcher block
install butcher block
install baseboards
bulkhead to cover plumbing overhead
install light fixture

Dining:
get new table
paint new chairs
install overhead light
install dimmer switch

Living:
install light fixture
stain stair runners and reinstall
cut and install new stair treads
decide on stairwell railing
window seat

Den:
install baseboard end
electrical outlet covers

Basement:
replace stairs
replace last floor board before stairs
build storage under stairs
bookshelves
cover ceiling
stone under stove
shelves above laundry
countertop in laundry
gate/door for dogs
electrical, phone and TV wiring
window trims

January 14, 2009

Donnie's plan is to start the island before we go any further with the perimeter cabinets. That meant we had to find the time to sit down and talk about the requirements and make the plan. My original plan is still with the original kitchen guy which isn't very helpful to me now.

The island will be based on the one shown here but we're planning to finish the wood with stain instead of paint. Originally I had wanted red paint but I'm concerned it will leave us with fewer options for decorating because the house is so open. The dark stained wood will let us change the wall colour or living room whenever we want.

The cook top will go to the right of centre, closer to the fridge. The backside of the island will have stool seating. I'm hoping to build tallish milking style stools for that with some round cookies of wood for the seats. Four drawers will be dropped down under the countertop

Under the small side of counter to the right of the cooktop will be a bank of drawers about 15". Under the cooktop itself will be open shelves for pots and pans. That will end at the halfway mark. Mirroring those two spaces in width will be two banks of drawers for plates, glasses and more to the left end of the island.

Maybe work will start next week. This week Donnie seems to be at work all the time.

January 9, 2009

We brought the dishwasher up from the basement where it's been living for, oh, a YEAR. It fits the hole we made for it which is a great start. After some reading of the manual Donnie hooked it up. Too ad we just had grilled cheese for supper and there's not much to wash.

January 5, 2009

Donnie installed the plywood frame today. Isaac says he loves it. I'm not sure what's to love but I'm happy to see us one step closer to being able to cook a decent meal.

January 4, 2009

We're getting a little more done each day. Today we cut the plywood frame pieces and measured and cut the plywood that goes along the wall to line up with. Well, I helped measre but Donnie did the cutting. Donnie wants to wait til we're back to work/school and he's home alone to start assembling the frame.

January 1, 2009

Happy New Year! This will be the year we finish the house. OK, finish building the house. We'll never really be done will we?

Today we were snowed in and we couldn't really open up the garage to do wood work. We mostly stayed close to the couch although Donnie plowed us out and I got the house back to normal by taking down all the Christmas decorations.

That's not to say the kitchen was at a stand still entirely. I got our table out of my kitchen. I moved it into the "dining room" and set up my dining and sitting area instead of the living room set up we had before. Then I measured and marked the island on the floor. We're going to have to drill the hole for the electrical before we go any further or we'll have no way to cook during construction. The old range (that was supposed to get me through a couple of months) has to sit in the middle of the room while we build the perimeter cabinets and then we'll be without it entirely while we build the island.

December 29, 2008

Well Christmas is over and it's time to get to work on the house. The kitchen comes first and is in such need of our time as you can see in the photos. I have pots, pans and dishes everywhere. I should refuse to cook until my conditions are improved.

We bought the materials today and finalized our plans. I'm pretty sure this is how the professionals do it minus the gingerbread house and popsicle stick napkin holder on the drafting table. Maybe the pros don't write measurements on the existing structures with sharpies either? That 20 pack of multi coloured sharpies I bought at Costco were awesome! I think every tradesperson we had in the house managed to go home with one or two. They were in high demand. Turquoise was my favorite.

Cabinets start this week!

December 24, 2008

We're ready for our first Christmas in the new house! We cut down a tree out back, I decorated it while the boy hung out and Donnie went in to work. Who works on Christmas Eve anyway? The family started arriving in the afternoon and by the time Santa arrived we had a houseful of overnight guests. Notice the tree is decorated with beads, lights and Christmas cards? I can't find my box of tree ornaments anywhere. Oops.

December 8, 2008

We are snowed in today! So we sat down to work out kitchen details. Did I mention that our original plans are still with the kitchen guy who didn't do the work?

From left to right across the kitchen wall with the big window we will have:

1. Some as yet unidentified piece of cabinetry. Maybe something unfitted or like a narrow hutch, or both.

2. Fridge. This is already in place. It's black because Donnie wanted black. I don't mind it. It's an all-fridge because I wanted that. They warned us it would be noisy but wow, it's noisy.

3. Straight run of cabinets with stack of drawers about 30" wide, sink cabinet with two doors underneath, dishwasher, undercounter oven and last, cabinet with drawer on top and open space for stoneware underneath. I like the one Pioneer Woman is building. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pioneerwoman/3026789035/

You really should read her blog www.thepioneerwoman.com

The countertop will be random length 2X6 counter top. Donnie will place and glue them and I will plane, sand or whatever I decide to them to get them ready.

Once the cabinet front is ready I will be hand painting them - black. Sort of a warm, antique black if you can picture that. Originally the island was going to be a deep distressed red but I'm leaning more towards a dark stain now. We'll decide later.

December 4, 2008

We sat down to talk about the kitchen cabinets. It's a bit nerve wracking because we don't have a lot of faith that we will be able to do this joint project without killing each other. Like Isaac says, "Remember the window well incident?" In that case it was best to work seperately but here I'm the cook so I need to be involved but Donnie is the carpenter so he needs to be involved. He hasn't done cabinets before so it's not like I can show him pictures and he just does it. We need to figure it out. By talking. And working together.

So, we know what we want it to look like. We're both fans of a primitive painted style, inspired by The workshops of David T. Smith. Me because I like the look and I think it will work with the farm house. Him, because well, it looks simple and lie one of the easier options. Maybe he likes it too.

After we agreed on the basics (which were already laid out for the cabinet guy we hired who didn't perform) we decided to go away and think about it and talk again on Saturday night. Yay, date night.

December 3, 2008

Donnie and Doug have been working on the garage wiring on and off all week. I think it's now done since the outside light came on tonight when I went out to feed the goats. That's kind if nice. As long as it doesn't come on when I'm sleeping I'm fine. We situated the house and our bedroom so I'm the farthest away from any yard activity so I should be good.