Day 162

This weekend, I have been working on painting the rails in the dining room, again.  I can't believe how long it takes.  I'm putting on the second coat and 3/4 of the way done and put in probably 2.5 hours.  Actually, the backs of the spindles that face the family room, haven't been painted yet, so maybe I'm more like half way done. 

I also painted Oliver's closet gray. Will do one more coat and the ceiling still needs done. My dad has been painting the trim that is already in there.  He's also working on the window sills and door frames in all the bedrooms.  Just when I think the trim done, a pile of unpainted trim shows up.

 

Josh is filling the hole in the family room where they cut out to re-pipe the plumbing.  He was mixing everything by hand for a while then yesterday bought a cement mixer and spend most of the day putting it together.  It should really speed things up.

 

 

We have decided to enlist the help of the Amish.  We plan on hiring them to hang the kitchen cabinets and frame and maybe drywall the downstairs bathroom and laundry room.  They will be able to get it done a lot quicker than we would, and probably have more experience.  Josh had to visit an Amish blacksmith for a lawnmower part and asked him if he knew anyone that could help us.  He said probably his cousin.  Josh gave him our numbers and my parent's address. There are Amish that live all up and down our road, so it would be really convenient. We haven't heard anything back yet.  But, that was only 2 days ago.  That's one reason he has been working on getting the hole covered.  If they happen to get back to us and can start soon, we don't want to be like, "Well, we actually aren't ready for you yet..."  That also means I have to paint the kitchen ceiling again soon and I still need to do the blue on the top of the walls.  I will probably do that if I ever finish the stupid rails in the dining room. 

Day 156

It's been a pretty busy weekend between Oliver's first birthday (and party) and Father's Day.  That's why this post is coming late.

Josh has been working on the bathroom vanity.  We need to finish plumbing for the shower so we can seal up the wall and put the vanity in.  He was talking about doing that soon.  There are 3 side drawers and a long bottom drawer.

 

 

Josh painted the ceilings in the kitchen and dining room.  I forgot to look at it when it dried to see if it needed any more coats.  We started painting the spindles and banister in the dining room.  It's going to take a lot more coats because the wood soaks it all up.

 

 

See the big strip of white there?  We decided to paint more of it the same color as the walls (onion skin) but leave the top lip white. We need to paint all the walls white first

 

On Father's Day, we had a cookout at our house with Josh's family and my parents.  He helped his dad rip out our back porch.  It needed to be done and wasn't really safe.  They were breaking it all up with a sledge hammer so they were really working up a sweat.

 

 

We also bought some doors for the bedrooms.  My mom was sanding and painting the old ones, but we realized how old and boring they were so we decided to get new ones.  We will use the doors elsewhere in the house, so it is not all in vain.  Josh wants to get the hole in the family room and downstairs bathroom sealed up soon where they had to re-do the piping.  Maybe he'll do that this week.  Other than that, there is always painting that needs done!  Oh, almost forgot, my dad spent like 6 hours painting trim for the bedrooms.  Maybe we will be ready to nail it up soon.

 

Day 147

We have a working toilet!  We just have to put on the toilet seat to have it functional.

My mom went over most of the day yesterday and today to try to finalize Penelope's room.  She touched up a few places on the ceiling and was painting trim in her closet.  She also sanded and painted her door.  Still needs more coats but it's progress.  The closet looks so much better now that the door trim is white and not a dark brown.  You can't really even see it in the picture though.

 

Josh has spent this weekend putting up the rail in the dining room.  We just need to paint it now.  Guess what color...   He is thinking about laying the tile in the dining room soon.

 

 

 

 

Day 144

I went over to the house pretty early yesterday, 7 pm.  Oliver's and the master bedroom closet still needs painted to I cleared them both out and took off the doors (with Josh's help).  I wiped them down to get them ready to paint.  Sometimes I forget how much the prep time can take.  In our closet, there is a big dent in the wall, so that needs to be puttied up before it's painted.  There is still trim there too that needs painted white. We are building shelves in Penelope's closet, but I haven't given thought to Oliver's or ours.  My mom really wants to tackle the bedrooms to get them finished so we can check that off the list.  They are so close, yet so far from being done.  Here is the list:  paint closets (Penelope's is done), paint trim in closets, closet shelves, hang remaining trim in room, ground outlets, and put down carpet. Also, sand and paint doors.  We don't like sliding closet doors, but haven't figured out what to do about it yet.  My mom wants to get them done, curtains hung and everything and just close the door.  Once the bathroom and kitchen done, we don't want to be waiting on bedrooms to be able to move in.

 

Major plumbing progress!  It may not look like much, but plumbing is in place for the upstairs bathroom, downstairs toilet and tub and sink and laundry room washer/dryer and sink.

 

 

And we are so close to having a working toilet!

 

Lovely backyard.

 

Found this picture of Josh's dad, Danny, on my phone and can't remember if I uploaded it before.

 

 

After I cleaned out the closets, I tried to take the hinges off the cabinets that need painted.  Some were very easy to take off and some were impossible.  I got about 5 done.  Then I started to paint cabinets yet again.  I swear, they will never get done.  I did about 9 before my mom called with an SOS for Oliver and I have to run home to him.

 

More of the same will be getting done this weekend.

 

Day 140

This is work that was done over the weekend.  Josh put drywall up by the stairs and it's actually weird having it closed off. Can't see into the basement from the dining room anymore.

 

 

I convinced Josh to stay late on Friday night so I could go over and work with him.  He started working on the bathroom vanity that he will be making himself.

 

I got the ceiling in the kitchen painted.  Will still do a coat of ceiling paint on top of it though.  I didn't go over until 10 pm and tried to work as quick as I could.  I had my one beer limit while I was painting.  I tripped on something and bruised my toe.  I started to feel super drunk and I was kind of confused because I only had a beer and I'm not that much of a light weight.  Josh came to the kitchen to check on the progress and his eyes started to burn from the oil-based paint fumes.  I said a couple of other loopy things before Josh realized I was high from the fumes and took me outside.  We drove to the house separately, but he drove me back home, even though it was only a mile down the road.

 

 

The next two pictures are just more of what the downstairs floor looks like from digging it up and removing the pipe.

 

 

Today Josh and his dad ran pipe from the tank outside to inside.  They still have more to do but got a lot done.  And Josh even busted his finger with a sledge hammer.

 

 

That's his dad on the back hoe.

 

 

We also bought a new 50 gallon hot water heater on Saturday.  Josh will continue to work on the septic and run pipes.  I have hours and hours of painting to do.  Ceilings, walls, cabinets, closets.... The painting never ends!