Fancy Bathroom

Our master bathroom ended up looking a lot fancier than I expected.  

As apposed to the rest of the house where we tried to go as simple and easy as we 

would let ourselves, for time and money's sake, I ended up spending a lot of time in this room.  

To give the appearance of board and baton paneling, 

I added pieces of wood trim to the walls part of the way up.  

I then primed those.  

Then painted the whole lower section.  Then painted the top and bottom pieces trim white along with the window and door trim. 

Finally, three other guys from work 

helped me move over the claw-foot tub and we carried it into place.  

The plumber Scott then finished the fixtures last weekend and we love how it turned out.

Staircase

After putting off dealing with the staircase for too long, I realized the safest, and fastest installation method would be to hire Danny to come back and do it for me.  He and Stoney made quick work of it and we're happy with how it turned out.  I did some of the finish work on it and have yet to stain and finish it.  The treads are the same species as the flooring, White Oak, so I have stain to match the prefinished flooring.  The Newel posts and handrail are Red Oak so I'll stain them darker and not even try to get them close to the rest.

This last piece of railing is about 3 feet long, 3 feet more than we had any single piece leftover.  Maybe you can figure out what we did to make it work.  Shhhh, don't tell anyone.

Back Porch Finished

My Dad came for another (of many) weekends to help out and we tackled the back porch.  We started with the decking finished and the four corner posts.  My plan is to build steps from the kitchen corner side, (over Dad's shoulder in the picture) down toward the garage and onto the ground that will be accessible from the side of the house.  However, time being what it is and we want to close as soon as we can, we'll leave that part for later.  

Using treated pine lumber, we added two more 4X4 posts on each side and used 2X4's to make railing all around with 2X2 spindles making it all kid-safe.  We built it in such a way that come spring I'll add screen panels to the outside for a screened in porch.  Take that bugs!

For weeks ahead of time we had beautiful 60s and 70s weather, and then Dad came and the wind picked up and dropped down to 40s at midday.  

(Not pictured, Mat helped some too.  You'll notice the two spindles 

in the corner that are upside down.  Thanks Mat.)

Cabinets Almost Finished

Our bathroom cabinets have been done for a while but the process to finish up our kitchen cabinets has taken a while.  This week saw the final coat spraying and the installation of the counters.  We chose Corian counters.  We're very happy with how it all turned out.  Bonnie is very very very happy.  All that's left is some hinge adjustments and the handles and pulls to go on.  Bonnie's dad built for us some open shelving to go up in the back left and right corners.  I need to paint them still and they'll be ready to go.  We already have a dish rack that will hang on the left side over the dishwasher and the range hood will go . . .over the range.

Cool Weather

I've absolutely enjoyed the change in weather from hot and sticky to cool and breezy.  The girls like going and playing at the house more now too.  In summer they would whine about having to go there.  Or course, it's not really home until we've moved in I guess.  This picture is from one of the upstairs windows looking across the lot next door.  It's for sale by-the-way.     (wink wink, nudge)

Been Busy

Ok.  I know I haven't updated for a while but it's a good thing.  It's good because I've been busy working on the house a lot and haven't taken the time to do more of this.  See?  I'm not just being lazy.

     Looking back at the pictures on my phone, I'll start updating with the oldest, unused photos to guide us.
Here's an interior door representing all the doors I put in.  They are pre-hung, split-jamb doors that come with the casing you see here.  It took at little while to remember how I used to install these so quickly.  It took about 3 or 4 doors to remember, but I got the hang of it and they turned out pretty nice.

After the doors were hung we started on the windows.  Here's one with no work started yet.  You can see the vinyl window itself hung in the framed space.  They are hung from the outside, nailed through the outside sheathing into the studs, and should be plumb and level.  Our exterior walls are framed with 6" studs so there are several inches from the window to the interior wall face.  When building with this size walls, two options are available.  You can have the drywall installer "wrap" the windows meaning they turn the corner from the wall into the window space and butts right into the window.  This type usually gets a sill installed along the bottom and look nice.  We chose another route.  We made and installed window jambs which cover the framed 2X6 space with finish grade wood. 

This picture shows the jamb installed with a sill on the bottom.  The jamb is made to perfectly fit the window size, not the framed opening because those can vary.  I used many many wood shims to square these jambs in place.  After the jamb is squared and nailed tight against the window, flush with the sheetrock, I added casing around the sides and top and an apron below the sill.  This frames the window.

Ta-Da!  Once all the pieces are nailed in, we fill the holes made by the nail gun, lightly sand it all smooth, caulk the seams and finally paint it with trim paint.  See?  Isn't that simple?  Now you can try it yourself at home.  

(btw - we have 20 windows I did this to. )

Back Porch

Mat helped me finish the back porch ceiling.  After the fan is installed I'll cover the seam with another couple of boards.  After this, I started work on the porch floor, or decking.  Brian had some Ipe decking imported for he, Sam and I to use for our houses.  Brian and Sam used hidden fasteners that hold the decking in place without anything showing on the surface but I wasn't happy with how those would turned out for me so I decided to screw through the top like regular decking.  Since this is Ipe, ( an extremely dense species from Brazil ) I can't simply screw it down.  I've had to drill pilot holes, then countersink holes, and then screws.  All that adds up to more work, longer time.  Fortunately it looks really good. 

Porch Ceilings

      We could have gone the easier route and simply had the siding installers put aluminum soffiting in the porches but our friend Sam found out about some pine, tongue & groove planks at a nearby lumber mill for sale cheaper than anywhere we could buy it so . . . we bought it.  I guess you could say it's been a labor of love to install it ourselves because we quickly found out how badly bowed most of the boards are.  It wasn't easy but we really like how it turned out.  Jan came last week to help around the house and he and I finished the front porch and half of the back.  I didn't take the time to finish the pine before installing - which I may regret, but that can be done later.

      The front porch begun.

The finished front porch.

The back porch half done.

More Of The Cabinets

           Here are those promised cabinet pictures.  See?  I keep my word.  This is the upstairs bathroom cabinet.  It will have two sinks for the girls and is about six feet long.  The master bathroom cabinet looks the same but is shorter and will hold just one sink.

             This is another view of the kitchen cabinets.  The range will fit in the center with a hood above it and the refrigerator goes into the space on the right with a cabinet above it.  To the right of that is the pantry.

Cabinets Start

          The first step in our bathroom and kitchen cabinets installation began Tuesday evening.  Nick and his wife and son didn't get to our house until 5:00 pm and they didn't leave until around 10:00.  The bathroom cabinets are pretty much finished besides counter/sink and handles.  The kitchen still needs some finish work done, counter top and then doors.  As you can see, we decided on painted cabinets.  They are a country style that we've seen in magazines and like.  The color is a light cream/off white.

I still need to take pictures of the bathroom cabinets.  They are naturally finished alder. 

Flooring Time

         After finishing all the painting, we finally decided on which flooring to use (after waiting pretty late).  We found a prefinished, hand distressed White Oak floor with a light brown stain.  The lumber is Rift & Quarter Sawn so it looks different than average oak flooring.  This looks closer to nice oak furniture, probably like your parents' antique cabinet. The difference comes from how the lumber is cut.  If you're looking at a log straight on like a circle, plainsawn lumber is cut horizontally, like cutting bread.  R&Q is cut all the way across the center like a pizza.  That may not mean much to you but it makes a big difference in how the lumber looks and reacts to moisture.  We're really happy with how ours looks and are grateful for all the help we've had in installing it ourselves, especially from Dad.

Here you see we laid out a layer of roofing felt paper that helps the flooring sit tighter to the subfloor and sound more solid.  We then snapped a chalkline across the back of the living room/kitchen and started at it.  I have more pictures of this process but they're on my Dad's camera and he's on his way, with Mom, to Washington state.  I'll try to add them later.

As for the bathrooms and garage entry area with bathroom and laundry room (aka: mudroom), we wanted tile floors but didn't want to add that cost.  So, we had some lower end vinyl flooring installed by a friend's company.  We like how it turned out and expect it to last for a while.  When we're ready to install tile, we'll be able to lay it right over the vinyl.  In this picture it looks sort of pinkish - it's not.  It's mostly cream and brown.  And that hallway wall isn't green.  I don't know why it looks like that in the picture.

Painting Finished

Ok, I'm a week late to post these but I finished painting all the walls.  The kitchen held me up a little while because we decided to put wainscoting panels on the walls.  I'm still not sure if I should have waited and put them on after the cabinets and window trim where on, but I knew installing them now would be easier.  It's difficult to see from these pictures what the colors are so I'll help you out.  The living room is a creamy beige color called Navajo White.  That's in most of the house including all the upstairs bedrooms.

We picked a green for the front room, the laundry and mud bath rooms.

Our master bedroom, the upstairs bathroom and the kitchen panels are a pale blue.  (Blue Reflections I think the name is.)  

So, this was finished up about a week ago and around last Thursday I started getting the floor ready for wood flooring.  I'll get those pictures up soon.

Siding Finished

Our exterior siding was finished today.  It's been 99% done for about 10 days now but the front door and a few other details needed completing.  It's turned out great and we really love how it looks.  In case you're wondering, the green lower part of the front isn't finished yet.  It will have a stone veneer put on it that we're ordering now.  A stipulation of the lot we bought is the house must have 30% of the front covered in either log, brick, or stone.                I hope to finish cleaning the yard of trash and debris tomorrow which will now allow Clay to come back and begin grading it and backfilling up to the foundation.  This ought to greatly improve the look of the yard surrounding the house.

I've been painting for a few weeks too but have failed to add pictures of that so far.  I keep forgetting.  I took some this weekend but I'll save them for next time.  That part is just about finished and we're making the decisions on our flooring this week.  Busy busy.
         We spent most of yesterday in Mountain Home, AR buying things for the house like toilets, water heater and bathroom fixtures.  Bonnie went to Springfield today with Rose and bought more of that stuff.  We have the light fixtures and ceiling fans now too.  The electrician is suppossed to begin the final electricl work on Wednesday which will include outlets, switches and fixture installation.  Very exciting.

The Outside Gets Prettied Up

     Andrew and Bill are going strong on the vinyl siding.  We didn't think it would look bad but we're surprised with how good it looks.  It's a nice surprise.  Since they'll be finishing up the front soon, we need to settle on which stone we want and get that scheduled.  The stone will go on the lower part of the wall on the front and the garage side.  While the outside is getting it's covering, I've started painting on the inside.  I'll have pictures of that later.

We have a freeloader living on our land without asking and not willing to pay rent.  I'll hope that it at least gets rid of some of the nearby varmints and earns it's keep.