Marching Band

Since I haven't included any pictures of Emily's marching band, I thought I'd better take one and post it. This year the theme is 4 Seasons. The band is forming a leaf for the fall season. Emily is in there somewhere. :)

Progress in the Bathroom

This is the view of the new upstairs bathroom from the living room. The new cabinets were installed yesterday, and the headband trim today. The reddish paper is covering a black granite countertop. The left side, which you can't see, contains the stand-up shower and more cabinets. Even though it doesn't look like it in the picture, the cabinets are a lighter stain than the kitchen cabinets. The layout of this bathroom turned out really well. The toilet will go behind the far wall on the left side of the vanity.

Staining Redeemed

The new staining crew started working in the basement this week. We are thrilled with the results of their work. They have a more complex process than the previous crew: they wipe on the stain, seal the wood, spray on the stain (color can be adjusted at this point, which is what we had to do), and then lacquer. The wood is richer and darker. Most of the problem areas have gone away or aren't noticeable unless you know where to look. Changing crews was absolutely the right decision. Our builder did a good job of finding a crew that is capable of dealing with the fussy poplar wood, and that dealt with the tricky situation of coming in after another crew had started. The crew finishes staining in the basement tomorrow and then they start painting.

Window Seat

The headband runs across the upper portion of the window seat. The big white drywall patch on the left will get repainted. :) The wood will be stained the same color as the kitchen cabinets. We will cover the 5-inch thick cushion we've had here previously with fabric to match the paint. This will be the prized, most-sought after spot in the house after it's finished.

The slanted back is for leaning against when lounging or reading in the window seat. The opening above the backrest has adjustable shelves, which are stacked up in the bottom of the opening until they are stained.

The view of the other side.

Warning! Not for Those Who Have Dust/Mess Phobia

Still Life: Drills

Benches in Living Room Corner

These will have flip-top lids and be lined with fabric inside.

Bathroom with Drywall

Lockers in the Entryway

Behold the unstained locker area in the entryway. The wood will be stained the same color as the kitchen cabinets. When I walked in the house after this area was finished, I realized that we have reached a monumental moment in our house remodel. The first headband board (the board between the lower and upper parts of the wall that that separates the two different colors) had been installed. We have gotten so many questions about why we didn't "finish" painting all the way up the walls. Even this week, the guy who is working on drywall in the bathroom assumed that the person painting was just too short to reach! You can see in this picture that the headband board runs across the top of the door and then around the lockers. The headband will be everywhere in the main floor except around the kitchen.

Homecoming

Emily is gorgeous in her purple gown.

The gang of friends that went together this year.

Emily and her close friend, Amber. These two stole the show with their updos, vivid-color gowns, and beauty!

Isaac Plays Goalie

Isaac enjoyed playing the goalie position for some of his first soccer game. He made a couple of blocks to prevent the other team from scoring. His team ended up tying the game.

More Pics

The future fireplace. It is being installed on Friday.

View from our old bedroom (now the TV room, which we are called the away room) into the living room.

View from the living room into the away room.

The upstairs bathroom. It's just studs and wires and a shower pan right now.

Pictures Around the House

Entryway looking down toward the kitchen.

The cabinets are installed around the stairway. The railing, which will be made from slate tiles with a wood band around the edge, will sit on top. The railing will be a little more than 12 inches wide.

This is why our builder wanted us to move out. This view is from the kitchen looking into the living room.

House Pics

Finally all the kitchen cabinets are hung. Well....there are still 4 to install around the stairway, but they don't count as the original cabinets that we got over a year ago.

The four cabinets mentioned above will be installed around the stairs and those temporary shelves will be gone! In this picture you can also see the bathroom that was gutted where the bare studs are.

Future fireplace!

This is the most startling and exciting change today. The hole from the living room to the away room (our former bedroom) was cut. What a change! I can't wait until the double french door with glass are installed. The doors for the upstairs are 2 weeks away.

Stain Update:
We got a bid today from a staining crew that is much more reasonable that the last number that we got. We will be looking at some of the crew's work and having them stain some sample boards for us. Hopefully they will work out. We're getting closer to a solution on that.

House Update

Still no answer on the staining fiasco. The other crew we brought in was way over budget, unfortunately. So we are exploring other options. One guy came today to look at it, and will get numbers soon, and I'm working on getting another guy here this week.

Progress on the bathroom and bedroom demolition is complete, and Mike is doing electrical this week (he took off three days). I'll try to post some pictures of that soon (I've got to find my camera and the cable to connect it to my laptop). I'm so glad we're not living in the house right now - what a mess!

Muddy Football Game

I think the pictures say it all. They won the game. Avritt got some tackles and a couple of carries as the running back.

Big Changes

Over the course of the last week we have decided, with our builder's strong recommendation, to temporarily move out of our house for the next 6 to 8 weeks. We are moving to a house 2 doors down which is sitting empty right now. It is up for sale, but the with the tough market, the owners aren't optimistic about it selling anytime soon. They have agreed to let us stay there (we're paying them rent) until our house is done. Our builder tells us that by moving out and allowing them to start on the upstairs this next week, we can shave at least 2 weeks off the finish time of the project overall.

This all came about because of a fiasco with the staining that happened on Monday. We were very unhappy with the job the crew did (our builder brought in a sub that he uses). We decided, in conjunction with our builder, to dismiss the staining crew, and bring in another one, which we found through a friend who works for a staining/painting crew (thanks, Jeff!). We are waiting to find out if the bid from the new crew will be within our budget. They will need to do some fixing of the sloppy job the first crew did, and then they will be able to do the staining from scratch upstairs. Due to this situation, we would have been 3 weeks behind schedule on the basement because the new crew couldn't start work for another 3 weeks. However, if the work commences upstairs during that time, and catches up with where the basement is, then we will save money overall by bringing in the remaining crews all at once time instead of twice, and we save about 2 to 3 weeks overall. We are now hoping for a finish date of early November instead of late November.

So.....we are frantically packing up and will be moving over the next few days. Thankfully, I don't have to go into work tomorrow (classes are cancelled from 10 to 1 due to inaugural ceremonies for the new president) so I can work at home all day. Mike is taking a half day, and we will begin to empty our bathroom and bedroom on the main floor. Our builder wants to start the demolition process in the bathroom upstairs (it's being gutted and totally redone) and our bedroom (the closets get removed and the room changes to a TV room). Then the crew will begin to catch up the upstairs to where the basement is right now (trim, casing, and baseboards are finished, cabinets installed, built-ins are constructed) by bringing back the finish carpenter right away. Then he will bring in the staining and painting crew, then the tile guys, then the finish plumbers, then the wood flooring and carpeting guy to do the whole house instead of doing it in parts.

We'll keep you updated, but assume for the next 6 to 8 weeks that you should call our cell phones. We will have internet access at the new place. We are bringing minimal furniture, bedding (air matresses), bathroom, and kitchen supplies. The nice thing about this whole situation is that we will have a space that isn't going to be disrupted every day by workers arriving at 7:00 am, dust and fumes flying around, and the chaos of a remodel.

Play Room

The carpenter has his tools set up in the play room. This is the last room that he will work on. He will put a railing on the loft (bottom picture) and build a window seat in the front window (not pictured here). I'll post those pictures as soon as he finishes.

Carpenter at Work

Shower Tile

The porcelein tile in the shower turned out really well. They are waiting for a mosaic to come in, and then they can finish.