Lights! Camera! Cooking!

The floor is finally finished. The electrician came by for a while and hooked up the last AC/heating vent and one of the kitchen lights. The other needed lightbulbs so its not hooked up yet.

I've been cooking on a daily basis since Sunday. Mom and Pa are now coming up to visit and have dinner with us instead of us going down there and having dinner with them. Mom is enjoying the break.



The cabinets are not actually installed. They're simply being placeholders until we nail down the exact kitchen design. I drew it all out on the sub-floor, but we put the wood flooring over that. Nevertheless, Richard has all the measurements for when we are ready to get busy pulling the kitchen together completely. This didn't stop me from setting up my counters with spices, utensils, dry goods and dishes.

Right now, Richard's still nailing in the baseboards and window trim.

We are also moving a few sticks of furniture or a few boxes in from the garage. The table in the photo is actually my work table, not my dining table. The roll top desk is now inside, as is the pie safe.

Our next big move will be bringing in our dressers.

And after that, the dreaded piano and entertainment center. Dreaded not because of what they are but how HEAVY they both are. The piano is especially difficult to move because it has Queen Anne legs in front that cannot take any strange-angled pressure or be used to hold on. I hope whoever helps us move it has eaten their Wheaties!

The guest bathroom...

Each tiled wall in the guest bathroom took a full day to complete. The custom tiles really make it glow. The plumber came on Saturday and installed the fixtures. The electrician came yesterday to install the lights.

We had an issue with the medicine cabinet and the lights. We couldn't recess the cabinet due to the pipes and electrical behind the walls. The vanity lights didn't come out over the medicine cabinet enough to do the job intended. Pa and Richard created a wood base to hang on the wall to bring the lights out over the medicine cabinet. I love the look of the two different woods but everyone else is not convinced. We may end up painting the medicine cabinet or perhaps refinishing the wooden base a different color. The wood base is not visible in this picture. Still, I think the bathroom looks good. I need to spiff it up some with the proper towels and some objects of interest, but this is the basic look of it.

Laying the new flooring

We weighed the pros and cons of real wood flooring. It seemed that real wood, while stunning, would require refinishing every few years. Also, to get real wood flooring in a thickness to refinish was prohibitively expensive. Thin wood flooring sold for regular prices but couldn't be re-finished well.

Then we checked out hardwood-engineered floors - made with real hardwoods with specially glued techniques. Whenever I hear wood/glue/adhesive, I remember my kitchen counter in Pennsylvania...a hardwood engineered counter meant to last a lifetime. And the counter above the dishwasher was bubbled and peeling due to the humidity of the steam from the appliance.

Laminate flooring was considered next. However, to me, most looked fake. We looked at them all. I love the knotty detailed wood colors, Richard preferred blonder wood. One day, while at the hardware store, they were putting samples of new laminates up and we saw it. Armstrong's SwiftLock made to resemble hickory wood. Hickory is a dark blonde wood. There were knots and swirls and grains galore. We bought 99 boxes (and got a 15% Veteran's Day discount!) and proceeded to lay the floor.

Once you understand the locking system, its easy to lay. Slide the end in first, then at a slight angle, slide the horizontal length in. Shims under the boards help keep it in place until you've finished a row. Tap into place with the special tool (a tapping block and a pull tool, both available in the same area of the store), then pull the shims out and walk on the boards to lock in place. It took us four days to lay the Great Room which is 30 X 29 feet. We laid it all the way across even under the stove, fridge and kitchen counters. There are special precautions doing this, make sure to read instructions.

Here are the before and after pictures:



Before the flooring could be laid we had to prep it by sanding rough spots and any swelled sub-floor (from rain when the roof wasn't in place).



This is an after shot. Notice the socks on the legs of the furniture. Richard and I weren't sure we could trust the warranty at first and so did our best to protect the newly laid floor. Although we've slid a few things across and its not done any damage, I plan to put some sort of protection on the legs, anyway (besides the socks, which look a little tacky). LOL

The kitchen area...

The kitchen area is not complete but we're getting closer. Richard and Pa spent some time figuring out how to put the rangehood/microwave/convection oven in place - it is supported from the TOP, not the bottom, something I didn't know when I bought it. Anyway, they devised a shelf above that will be mostly hidden by the cupboard that will also hide the vent pipe. The stove was easy, just plug it in. For those with small children, the stove came with an anti-tilt bracket that attaches it to the back wall. We'll probably install that once the kitchen tiling is done.



This is the "before" shot the day after installation. I set up a little cooking corner. and of course, the first thing I actually cooked was a new batch of homemade dog food. A few days later, I had to move all the stuff because we put in the floor.



This is the after shot of the flooring installed. Again, all the stuff surrounding the stove is temporary. The one cupboard seen is actually the under-the-sink one. However, it is about 2 feet right of the sink for the moment. To the left of the stove is a box which contains the sink. LOL

The kitchen will eventually have some tiling as a backsplash and the cupboards will be properly aligned. There will be a "lunch counter/island" coming out from the wall in the center of the room, too.

Today's work...

Pa and Richard did a lot of work today! Richard started by installing the dryer hose through the crawl space to the outside air. I've been washing and drying ever since! LOL



They then put the convection/microwave/range hood in place. The open space above will have a cabinet and door when finished. The stove goes beneath and the OSB board showing will be tiled as a backsplash.



They actually put the phones in first. Pa showed Richard had to do all the jack work and then they put the outside phone box into the crawlspace. Before it was on the outside of the foundation because phones and computer were temporarily installed in the Airstream camper. This is my new hobby room/office, minus the floors, still.



Flint takes a nap on our bed...we haven't found the rails yet, although we did find the headboard and footboard.



Echo is actually laying on the couch. The futon couch in front of the window is the dogs' spot - they get up there to sleep and look out the window to bark at cars, cats and anyone who ventures into the yard. Both dogs were skittish with Richard and Pa going in and out so moved to different spots.

Yet another Snake & Progress...

No pictures today...

While Richard sanded, laid adhesive and then put the concrete board down in the guest bathroom, I emptied half the garage to get to my washer and dryer. As I cleaned them up in preparation to bringing them inside I opened the washer lid to find a lovely lint and paper mouse nest. Fortunately the inhabitants were long gone.

We brought the washer and dryer into the finished laundry room and hooked them up. It was great to just throw in load after load of laundry at my own house! I've been doing laundry at Mom's and the laundromat for 2 years now.

In addition to that I decided to bring the leather couch, the chair and the ottoman in. Mom and Pa showed up and I put Mom to work cleaning the couch with leather cleaner and then wiping it down with the leather conditioner.

And since I was in the back of the garage and my mattress and box springs were right there we brought them in, too.

I washed sheets, made the bed, put the Pendleton blanket on the couch and remade the futon couch with clean sheets for the dogs. The futon couch is their bed. I shoved it up to the window so they could look out and see the world pass by.

And then I had to put all the stuff back in the garage. Richard came out and helped with that so it went pretty fast.

He also installed the door in the master bathroom (we had installed the only functioning toilet about 3 months ago)

We'll be sleeping in the house tonight for the first time.

After laying floor tile tomorrow in the guest bathroom, then grouting it on Tuesday, we should be able to install the shower/tub faucets and use it by Wednesday. I hope. We'll leave the toilet and the sink for the plumber to finish.

A good, productive day but I am tired!

Oh, and walking to Mom's we met up with the neighbor kids and found a different dead baby snake of some sort in the middle of the road.

The tiling projects...

These are closeups (minus the grouting process) of the tiles we put on the walls in the guest bathroom.



These photos are on the left side of the medicine cabinet.



These photos are on the right side of the medicine cabinet.



These photos are on the opposite wall over the toilet.