Permit is Closed!

The permit is closed! Final inspection passed. We are putting the finishing touches on the house. We are painting the trim blue around the windows and putting up shutters and finishing interior details. John had to special order a ridicously high smoke stack to put on top of the chimney. This was to pass permit (our permit is closed!). The rose bush bloomed for Easter and despite being covered with dirt from the excavation and being totally neglected for 2 years.

The Baby is Here!

The baby arrived on 2/22. 7lbs, 6oz. 22 inches long. He arrived at 11 pm at night. John was actually working on the kitchen sink when I was in labor. He was not able to finish though before baby came. Although in the last week the kitchen sink did get installed and is working! All between taking care of a new baby! Attached are pictures of our new little one, Garrett Charles Meyers.

Kitchen progress

Just got granite countertops in today. I spent over 2 days installing the farmhouse sink. Half the time making a template, and the rest of the time gingerly cutting the front of the sink cabinet, wrestling the 120lb sink into position, and repeating... . I don't know how the pros do it, but it took me about 10 tries. Came out almost perfect. Also got the range hood in last weekend. Starting to look like a real kitchen. Our baby is due next week, so now I am getting pretty regular reminders that she has been living without a kitchen sink since April '08.

We were lucky to hook up with friend of a friend who is an underemployed stair rail specialist. He was able to get all the hardware at cost from his company, so we got a pretty cool stair rail at a better price then I could do it on my own. Interesting though, this guy has done hundreds of stair rails but never one with an iron newel post like this. So was a learning experience for both of us. Came out alright, even though we used a lot of 2 part epoxy (I mean like a quart) to hold it in place in the bottom step. Wrapping the curved first step was interesting.... I had never heard of Italian bending poplar before, until I set out to actually buy some in the Sacramento area. Finally found it at a specialty hardwood supply place, it worked great. I have the rest of a 4x8 sheet if anybody needs some wood that you can wrap into a circle...

As a special bonus, here is a picture of making some 3/8" hidden steel brackets to hold up the bar granite. I hate it when you hit your knees on the brackets under most bars.

Finally I am proud to say that for the first time in my life I have emptied a bottle of wood glue. Usually it dries up, or you lose it. Minor accomplishments. Also its interesting to note that I have had to move outlets or switches in almost every room of the house at this point. Interfering with a cabinet, a chair rail, light fixtures not quite right, or as in the picture above the handrail and switch needed to be at the same place. No fault of the electrician, he place boxes per plan or where we told him to. But with all the planning in the world, it still seems like I am having to move boxes and patch drywall every weekend.

We have been super busy trying to finish what feels like the never-ending project. Since the last update, all the hardwood floors were sanded, sealed, and urathaned upstairs, as were the stairs. We figured out a solution to the stair issue, John and Ron ended up tearing off all the plywood on the treads and adding some strips to the back of each tread. We also reached a milestone in that we now have a stove hooked up in the kitchen! John just cut out the cabinet for the apron sink this weekend and laid out the plywood for prepartion for counters! Soon we will have a kitchen. Susan and I painted the kitchen knook in this weekend. Susan has been helping paint all the upstairs baseboards. The baby room and master bedroom are completely painted now. We are waiting for some vanites to arrive for the bath and a shower door. John connected the upstairs shower with the rainshower and have tested it out. It is so cool! We also moved into the master bedroom upstairs in mid-Jan. Another milestone. We are getting there. The laundry room is completed now as well. We will have railings for both sets of stairs in by next weekend. Also, I have a dishwasher and range hood on the way for installation. Fun, Fun! Over and out. LL and John

Kitchen, Upstairs Flooring, Laundry, Bath

The kitchen cabinets arrived the week of Thanksgiving. Ron and John started the install and all the uppers went in first. Then John finished the hardwood flooring in the kitchen, we decided to use 4" red oak flooring. Then it was stained and coated. We did a darker reddish color. Next came the base cabinets. This all occurred over month of December. John has been very busy installing all the hardwood flooring upstairs. Upstairs is nearly done, we have the baby room, hall/laundry area, and most of the master bedroom done. The stairs will be after that. We discovered a set back today on the stair treads. The framer built the steps very deep and a standard stair tread does not fit correctly. We will need to see if we can get deeper treads. Bummer. In December we rounded up 6 guys to carry the cast iron bath tub upstairs. It was quite an effort by all, thank you Aaron, Jeff, and Jeff. The bathroom wainscoating just got it last coat of paint (thank you Susan and Christina) and John installed the toliet, still need to paint the window. The laundry room is nearly put together now and we finished up painting all the walls and trim. We still need to paint the cabinets (re-used from the old kitchen). My friend from work, Laura and Harvey re-finished the art deco light and we put that up in the laundry room. Looks great! Also, the back steps off the laundry area were re-built. John, Tom, and Drew mixed up 28-80lb. bags of concrete for them, the brick face is yet to go on them. Thank to everyone for your help so far! I think we are nearing completion or so I am hopeful we are! LL