Sunday, December 25, 2011

Coming together...

J and I have had the last three days, and one more tomorrow, to work on the farm. The holiday has come and gone and made a small impression, but all in all has felt like any other day, only less traffic.

Things are really coming together. The house is beginning to look like home. Like the combination of J and I. The bathroom is close to being finished. The tile looks amazing so far. Just as I pictured it. J has managed to transform it in just two days. Tomorrow J will grout the tile and and trim the new window so we can finish the tile around it. Today we put in three windows. The two large ones in the bedroom, which have been covered with plywood for several weeks. The view and the light is amazing. And, we put in the new window in the bathroom.

I finally feel like I am in my element. Finishing work. I painted the bathroom, the living room ceiling and the living room walls. They are quickly becoming rooms. I can already see where we will hang photos and our art. Mostly the art is from our friends. It is a plus to have such talented friends. Tomorrow I will likely paint the bedroom, as it is the least cluttered right now. The kitchen is in too much use, and the dining room is full of windows waiting to be hung. The mechanical/laundry room is filled with a makeshift table and tiling tools.

My parents will be visiting next Saturday and staying for the week. They are looking forward to seeing the farm, as they do not have Internet and rarely see the blog or any pictures. My dad has already told me he plans on bringing working clothes so he can help. Well, there is plenty left to do. It will be nice to have them here.

J always asks if I have pictures of everything so we can see the before and after. It is my plan to document the progression and make a picture book. I've made them for trips and one day will actually make one from our wedding photos. Everything in due time. But, here is a sneak peak of the bathroom and the exterior.

Before...boring
In transition. Need to expand for claw foot tub.
Tiling the walls
Love the tile floor

Almost finished.
The exterior has also gone through quite a change.

The original house

Nice and toasty now.
Siding done. Painting in the Spring.
And the best part so far, the view from my bedroom (minus the scaffold).
Okay. Actually the best part, the honey ham/goat cheese/fresh eggs from the girls omelet J made me tonight along with a side of sliced honeycrisp apple. Best meal ever. Usually I am cooking breakfast/lunch and dinner. Tonight, J cooked. Like I said, best meal ever!

Now, it's rest for the weary bones and sore hands. That is after a couple more chapters of book 2 of the Hunger Games (totally hooked).

Monday, December 12, 2011

Not so fast...

OK, so the siding was completed. The soffets were hung with the fascia on the north and south sides. With a lot of cussing and grumpiness. We are tired and getting cranky.

The windows, they will be hung another weekend. This weekend was two very long days, 9 and 12 hours, just the working part. Inside, we finished pulling down the drywall, cleaning the mess and fixing some of the headers and last night at 8pm finished putting in the new insulation.

We had to get the insulation finished so the drywall guys can come do their magic. It will feel like a lot was accomplished when that is finished. Then we can look to finishing the inside. Moving time keeps changing. January, then March then... I did pick up some hardwood samples for the living room floor. Looks like we will probably go with wide plank red oak. The white oak was a little too brown/beige when finished, and I like the warmth of the red and gold in the red oak. Truly, the hand scraped tobacco road acacia (?) was the pick, but way out of our price range (more than double the red oak).

Working long hours, commuting three hours a day, and working on the farm are becoming a bit draining. I hit the pillow and I am out. Which, if you know me is pretty normal. The abnormal piece is it happens at 7pm instead of 10.

Work has been stressful for both J and I. This is the part they don't always show on the DIY channel. And by the way, how in the world do they redo an entire house in a week??

But, I am totally counting my blessings and even the Christmas carols aren't bugging me, quite so bad. However, I am opting for bed instead of going to meditation. I need a few more z's to feel normal.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

New Light, New View

The windows are here. Most of the new electric wires are run with the new lights hung. Saturday the siding will be complete with the help of friends and the windows will be hung. We are also having professionals come finish the drywall. I like smooth walls, not popcorn bumpy weirdness. So, that is not so easy. Hence, the professionals.

Life is good.

And the best part, I get to start buying paint. Another good part, the siding we thought wasn't primed, is. So instead of 90 days to paint the house, we have 180. It is all coming together. And hopefully this confident moment will not end in an opportunity for the universe to send a lesson in humility and throw a wrench in the works.

As for the windows, I am so excited to see the view out of the bedroom when they are hung. The original windows were small. These new ones are nearly floor to ceiling and the view outside is of the front range in all it's purple majesty. Nice!

But now, we sleep, as we are still not feeling so hot and the weekend is coming and won't stop for a measly cold.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

I. Am. Beat.

I'm home sick today. Not homesick, but in bed and not at work sick. What I thought was allergies and a pound of drywall dust up my nose is actually a cold and the beginning of sinus chaos. Going non-stop will do that to a girl. This girl anyway.

This weekend was cold. Really cold. So J and I quickly sheathed the front of the house where the electric company moved the meter. Then we went inside.

J put on another layer of mud on the bathroom walls. We decided to get someone who knows what they are doing to complete the finish work on the drywall. Maybe use a skip trowel technique to match the plaster in the original part of the house. Then we ripped out the base of the drywall in the living room and I painted kilz around the bottom. I think that was this weekend.

Friday night was a home depot run to get plywood to lay in the living room to strengthen the subfloor. Then we will lay hardwood. We go back and forth about what we should get. I like wide plank and love the hickory we laid in our house in town. The rest of the house is a thin width red stained wood. We have talked about eventually going over all the old wood with new wood, as there is no subfloor under the old wood and in some places is looking a little thin and moving. (Not good that your floor dips when you walk on it.) So, new style or match the old wood. That is the question and cost will probably have something to do with the answer.

We started ripping down the drywall in the living room. While disgusting, there is a certain charm and joy in putting a hammer through the wall, grabbing an edge and pulling it down. I think we all enjoy demo. Some of us a bit too much. A girl has to have some fun right?

We also had a visit from our neighbor across the road. He explained that he sees us here all day on the weekends and thought we might need a little something to help us through and he needed a little something to do the day before. He made us a banana bread and brought it over. Now, that is a neighbor. And bonus, it was really good, especially during a break with fresh coffee. We gave him a tour and he couldn't believe the work we were doing and what we've done so far, He isn't alone in that. I am constantly amazed at what we have accomplished. Again, I so can't wait to be there full-time.

There was a short break in there somewhere on Sunday. J made a homemade target and we went to the mound in our field and set it up. Sunday was the first day I shot my new rifle. Again, I have never been much for guns. I don't play many video games or anything like that. I must say though, I am a pretty good shot. First one I missed the whole target, then set my aim again and hit it every time in the circle in the middle. I tend to move ever so slightly down and to the right. After two rounds I was done. Too cold. Numbness was setting in and the dogs needed to come back outside more than I needed to shoot at wood. But, guilty pleasure, it was fun.

The agenda for the rest of the week, windows get delivered tomorrow. Call the tree guy to place an order for the spring, place my seed order (yesterday, best day of winter...Baker Creek seed catalog arrived!!), and get all the little nails out of the framing in the living room so we can hang the new drywall Saturday. Unless Saturday is above arctic chill, then we finish the last bit of siding and hang the soffets.

Yeah, we can sleep next year.

Oh, and I finished reading Barnheart. It came in the mail Thursday. Awesome. Loved it.